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A Loyal Heart 


Page 117 



A Loyal Heart 


BY 



CAROLINE ATWATER MASON. 


MAS J?.l is; 


ne 



a 


PHILADELPHIA : 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
1420 Chestnut Street. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by the 
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


iz-3u,r 


TO 


MY MOTHER, 

WHOSE SYMPATHY AND FAITH HAVE BEEN MY INSPIRATION 

I DEDICATE 


THIS BOOK 










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A LOYAL HEART, 


CHAPTER I. 

“ Sweet girl graduates in their golden hair.” 

— The Princess. 

^ ^ listen ! See how the parts suit you. 

Gertrude Sayles, Lou Roberts, will you 
cease chattering for a moment ? ” 

“ Oh, Mrs. Parry, do forgive us ! Lou was just 
showing me that new stitch, but we won’t speak 
another word.” 

V ery well. I want to have two scenes from Elaine ; 
one where she asks Lancelot to wear her favor, you 
remember, in the diamond jousts; and the other 
where the old boatman is taking her, dead, on the 
barge, up to Arthur’s Court.” 

Oh, how lovely ! Of course, Gertrude is to 
be Elaine, ^ the lily maid of Astolat.’ None of the 
rest of us would do for that.” 

Lizzie ! how absurd. I wouldn’t do at all, would 
I, Mrs. Parry ? ” 


5 


6 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Yes, I think Lizzie is right. You are just the 
one I want for Elaine. It takes a great deal of hair. 
Listen : 

“ ‘ In her right hand the lily, in her left 

The letter — all her bright hair streaming down — 
And all the coverlid was cloth of gold 
Drawn to her waist, and she herself in white 
All but her face, and that clear featured face 
Was lovely, for she did not seem as dead, 

But fast asleep, and lay as tho’ she smiled.’ ” 

There was a little hush, and then one of the girls 
said : 

It seems too solemn for a tableau.” 

I know. Miss Fleming, but it will be extremely 
impressive. We want one or two of that kind, and 
I think Gertrude will take the part so well. Her 
hair answers very well for golden ; nobody has 
golden hair really — fortunately too, for it would not 
be pretty. Yes, my dear, you will make a charm- 
ing Elaine.” 

Thank you, ma’am. If I’m to be Elaine I have 
a mild curiosity to know who is to be Lancelot. I 
confess I rather object to flattering any man to the 
extent of dying for love of him.” 

Eugene Barrows says he will be Lancelot. Put 


A LOYAL HEART. 


7 


him into silver paper armor and he will quite look it. 

He has a pair of eyes 

Eyes, indeed ! cried Lou Roberts, her own 
sparkling with mischief; ^^you can’t tell Gertrude 
anything about Mr. Barrows’ eyes. Oh, Mrs. Parry, 
I wouldn’t have believed it of you ! ” 

Hush,” said Mrs. Parry, with assumed severity. 

I must put a quietus on you, Louise, as soon as pos- 
sible. How would you like to be the bailiff’s daugh- 
ter of Islington ? ” 

What, this one : 

“ ‘ There was a youthe and a well-beloved youthe, 

And he was a squire’s son, 

He loved the bayliff’s daughter dear 
That lived in Islington ’ ? ” 

She sang it over with gay little tosses of her head. 
The same. A song with two tableaux. You 
appear in costume first and sing it ; then you retire, 
and the curtain rises upon you, in green, necessa- 
rily ” 

Oh, dear me ! I can’t wear green. Green does 
not ^ suit my complexion best, and green it shall ’ not 
be. Can’t you compromise, Mrs. Parry, on a quilted 
green satin petticoat and a charming pink bodice and 
skirt?” 


8 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Ah ! she is a coquette, this, Louise ! ” exclaimed 
Mrs. Parry, with an expression of wild despair. 

We will discuss that later, my child. The cur- 
tain rises, let me proceed to say, on your coquettish 
self, declining to show ^ any countenance ^ to the 
well-beloved youth, in the person of Harry Hart.’^ 
Lou’s brows were contracted into a moderately suc- 
cessful attempt at a frown, as she said : 

Why Harry Hart, Mrs. Parry ? ” 

“Don’t pout, Louise. Because he is the only man 
in the club who can look sufficiently sentimental.” 

“ And must I go ragged in the second tableau? ” 
The other girls, and there were six of them in Mrs. 
Parry’s little library, clapped their hands with 
various exclamations of satisfaction at the thought of 
seeing Louise in such plight. 

“ Wait until you see me before you exult over 
my downfall, you malicious creatures ! ” retorted 
Louise. 

“Oh, yes; I know exactly how it will be,” re- 
marked Lois Fleming. “Lou will be gotten up re- 
gardless of expense, and the rags will be simply in- 
dicated, don’t you see ? Perhaps one sleeve will be 
torn in a way to show her arm to the best advantage. 
You know the man in Dickens who did Hamlet with 


A LOYAL HEART. 


9 


one fold neatly ironed in his stocking to indicate dis- 
order in his dress.^^ 

There’s no doubt the rags will be becoming.” 

This remark came from Maud Kingsley, a hand- 
some girl of reserved manner. 

But speaking of Hamlet reminds me that this is 
a Shakespeare club, or was last year,” said Sara Pat- 
ten, who wore glasses, and had a literary air. “Aren’t 
we to have any Shakespeare on our programme ? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” replied Mrs. Parry, “ but that has 
been the very hardest part of the whole thing to 
manage. I wanted to find two scenes that we could 
render, and it has been almost impossible. I thought 
of the trial scene in the Merchant of Venice, but it 
seemed to me there was danger of the ^ quality of 
mercy ’ being overstrained.” 

“ I should think so. Every one does that. Let us 
give it a chance to rest,” rejoined Miss Patten. 

“ Isn’t it a little ambitious, anyway, for us girls to try 
to personate Shakespeare’s heroines?” asked Julia 
Leighton, Mrs. Parry’s younger sister. 

“Well,” replied Mrs. Parry, “it is, of course, 
understood that we make no pretense to acting. We 
shall simply render the dialogue in costume and with 
a few accessories to give a proper setting.” 


10 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Let US see/’ said Gertrude Sayles, who were our 
best readers last winter ? ” 

Why, Lois and Lizzie by all means,” returned 
Sara, among the girls. For the gentlemen we 
did not have one whom I call a really good Shake- 
spearian reader. 

Here it was observed that Mrs. Parry was in a 
state of suppressed enthusiasm over some item of in- 
terest she had to communicate. 

I expect you girls all to bow down and make 
obeisance to me when I tell you what I have done 
about this very thing. Of course, it is just as Miss 
Patten says, the gentlemen were all mediocre as 
readers last year, with the exception, perhaps, of Mr. 
Swan. He read Brutus very w'ell, if you remember, 
and IVe put him down for Cardinal Wolsey, in the 
scene I think we will have from Henry VIII. But 
my great anxiety was for a good Romeo, for I finally 
decided that we could not find anything so eifective 
and manageable as the balcony scene in Romeo and 
Juliet. It is extremely pretty, and not too intense; 
the shrubbery is easy enough, and we c^n do the 
moonlight very nicely with electricity.” 

Oh, Mrs. Parry!” exclaimed Lois Fleming, with 
a long breath. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


11 


Calm yourself, my dear/^ said Mrs. Parry, sooth- 
ingly. I suppose I am reducing myself in your 
eyes to the level of the woman who liked Shakespeare 
because he was ^ so cute and racy.^ But no matter. 
'I confess I am looking now more at his adaptability 
to our entertainment than at his other qualities. 
Well, having decided upon Borneo and Juliet, and 
knowing who was to be my Juliet, my great anxiety 
was for Borneo. We have absolutely no gentleman 
in the club who could take that part. Mr. Parry 
suggested that we ask some member of the Shakes- 
peare Club to assist us.’’ 

Oh, Mrs. Parry ! ” 

How do you dare ? ” 

‘‘If they only would ! ” 

Mrs. Parry smiled complacently upon the girls. 

“‘Nothing venture, nothing have’” she com- 
mented fittingly. “Perhaps if we had lived in 
Exeter longer we should be more overawed by this 
high and mighty organization of pundits. As it is, I 
admit that at first I thought it impossible, but Mr. 
Parry helped me beautifully. He knew Mr. John 
Bomeyn very well, and he brought him in one even- 
ing for a little call. I talked with him about our 
club and what good work we have done, and how we 


12 


A LOYAL HEART. 


are getting ready for this entertainment for the benefit 
of the Indian Association, and then I just asked him 
if he would help us by taking the part of Romeo.” 

Tell us, oh, tell us quickly,” cried Louise Roberts, 
pretending to gasp with anxiety, did he ^ bow his 
crested head and tame his heart of fire ’ and conde- 
scend to smile upon us ? ” 

He was as kind as possible,” continued Mrs. Pariy, 
and said he would be very glad to help us — ^in short, 
I might count upon him. So we really have a star of 
the first magnitude, and my mind is at rest for that 
part of the programme.” 

The girls echoed Mrs. Parry’s enthusiasm. Maud 
Kingsley said that she had met Mr. Romeyn occa- 
sionally, and that he had the reputation of being the 
best bred man in Exeter society. 

That is all the objection I have to him,” put in 
Lois; ^^he is too polished for any use. It would 
frighten me out of my senses to be in the same 
tableau with him. He ought to have been an Eng- 
lish nobleman. He looks it exactly.” 

‘^Why, Lois,” said Lizzie Barnett, ^^you know 
him very likely ; your father is in Mr. Romeyn’s 
bank.” 

No; I do not know Mr. John Romeyn,” was the 


A LOYAL HEART. 


13 


reply, although, of course, my father knows him 
well. I believe he has not been in Exeter very much 
since he left college.” 

Doesn’t he do anything ? Hasn’t he any profes- 
sion ? ” asked Sara Patten. 

“He has studied law,” said Mrs. Parry, “but 
I think he means to travel before he enters on his 
profession.” 

Meanwhile Gertrude Sayles was remarking to 
Maud Kingsley, aside : 

“ I cannot imagine how Mrs. Parry could ask John 
Romeyn to help us in this affair. It really is, as 
she said herself, because she is comparatively a 
stranger here, for you know there is no family in the 
city so exclusive and so aristocratic as the Pomeyns. 
I never knew any of them to go out of their own set 
before.” 

“ Is their set so much better than ours ? ” asked 
Maud, a little coldly. 

“ I did not say it was better,” returned Gertrude. 
“ Lois, you know what I mean about the Eomeyns. 
Don’t you think them extremely exclusive and 
unwilling to go out of their own set? ” 

A faint flush rose in Lois Fleming’s clear face as 
she was thus appealed to. 


14 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


I really do not feel that I ought to judge,” she 
said, with a little hesitation. We certainly have no 
social relations with them.” 

The doorbell had rung while this conversation was 
going on, and at this moment a servant ushered into 
the library a lady of striking personal appearance. 
She was tall and erect, and her hair was iron gray, 
although her age must have been less than forty 
years. Her features were large and strongly marked, 
and she had peculiarly penetrating eyes. She wore a 
black gown and bonnet, very plainly fashioned, and a 
sealskin cloak. 

Mrs. Parry rose to meet her, greeting her warmly, 
and introduced her to the girls as Miss Barchet. 


CHAPTER II. 


“ Oh, the birds, the tree, the ruddy 
And white blossoms, sleek with rain. 

Oh, my garden, rich with pansies ! 

Oh, my childhood’s bright romances ! 

All revive like Hector’s body. 

And I see them stir again.” 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

M ISS BARCHET appeared to knov7 several of 
the girls already, and when she perceived Miss 
Fleming she held out her hand and said : 

Lois ! I am glad to see you.^^ 

Her voice was full and strong, and her manner was 
marked by dignity rather than grace. The im- 
pression she gave was essentially of strength. 

I think I interrupted a very animated discussion. 
These are the young ladies of your literary club, I 
suppose, Mrs. Parry ? 

Yes ; although I do not presume to call it mine. 
It is the one you have heard me speak of very often. 
There are several married ladies in it, you know, but 
they say I am the only one who has time for extra 

work, so they have given me the task of preparing 

15 


16 


A LOYAL HEART. 


the programme for this entertainment, of which you 
have heard something already.” 

Yes ; and I am interested to learn more,” re- 
sponded Miss Barchet, pleasantly. 

“ I suppose you all know, girls,” continued Mrs. 
Parry, that Miss Barchet is president of the Indian 
Association here in the city, as well as secretary for 
the State work, and as you have entered so cordially 
upon this plan of mine for the benefit of the Asso- 
ciation, I thought it would be pleasant for you to 
meet Miss Barchet. Perhaps she will give us some 
bright ideas and suggestions, as well as a great deal 
of good advice.” 

Do not expect too much from me, Mrs. Parry,” 
said Miss Barchet, meeting the shy, responsive smiles 
of the girls with her own quiet kindliness of look. 

I wish you would not let me interrupt you. Please 
go on with your conversation at the point where I 
came in.” 

I forget what we were speaking of. Oh, yes, — 
and you know the Homey ns, do you not ? I was tell- 
ing the girls just before you came that Mr. John 
Bomeyn had promised to do Borneo for us at the 
entertainment.” 

He will do it well, I should think ” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


17 


He is very agreeable, don’t you think so ? ” 

Yes ; I admire him in several ways. If he were 
a poor man’s son, I should expect a great deal of him. 
As it is, he may never be anything but a dilettant. 
Have you seen his sister Rose ? ” 

No ; I think not.” 

Yery likely you have not, as she is in a boarding 
school in New York this winter. She was my pupil 
for several years and I am very fond of her. She is 
young, you know, not more than eighteen, but she 
gives promise of being an extraordinarily attractive 
woman.” 

I should like to meet her.” 

She will be at home for the holidays ; you had 
better ask John Romeyn to bring her to your enter- 
tainment.” 

I will by all means.” 

Who is to be your Juliet, Mrs. Parry?” Miss 
Barchet now asked. 

Lois Fleming.” 

Lois, who had been sitting on a low stool near Miss 
Barchet, made a quick involuntary gesture of alarm, 
and colored deeply. She had a sweet expressive face, 
and would have been called the most graceful girl in 
the room. 

B 


18 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Indeed, Mrs. Parry, I cannot she began, 

but Miss Barchet, placing her large, strong hand, from 
which she had drawn a fur glove, over Lois’ slim 
fingers, and pressing them, said : 

Hush ! you can do it. It is foolish to object. 
What are you here for if you are not willing to do 
your part ? ” 

That is right, Miss Barchet,” cried Mrs. Parry ; 
thank you for coming to my assistance. I really 
get tired of overruling objections, and certainly Lois 
can have no reasonable objections to doing this.” 

Lois attempted no further protest, but finding a vol- 
ume of Shakespeare’s tragedies on the library table 
she turned to the scene chosen by Mrs. Parry in 
Borneo and Juliet. Her eyes flew over the lines, her 
breath coming quicker and the deepened color re- 
maining in her cheeks. 

What else are we to have, Mrs. Parry ? ” asked 
Miss. Barchet. 

Oh, let me see — Elaine and Lancelot, and a little 
ballad with tableaux, besides two passages from 
Shakespeare, this one, and a scene from Henry VIII. 

Mrs. Parry,” broke in Lizzie Barnett, excuse me 
for interrupting you, but don’t you think, since we 
are doing this for the benefit of the Indian Associa- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


19 


tion, we really ought to have something representing 
Indians on the programme?’^ 

If you mention Pocahontas I’ll tomahawk you ! ” 
cried Louise. 

“And there’s nothing else picturesque,” added 
Gertrude Sayles. 

“ I think war paint and feathers would be extremely 
becoming to the gentlemen,” said Julia Leighton ; 
“ the aborigines certainly ought to be represented.” 

“ How would you like the ^ noble savage ’ as seen 
on the reservation to-day minus the war paint and 
feathers, dressed in old clothes from missionary bar- 
rels instead, and armed with a pack of cards and 
a bottle of bad whisky ? ” asked Miss. Barchet. “ I 
admit that it would not be picturesque, but it might 
put a thought into somebody’s head, especially if you 
exhibited him beside one of the early warriors — King 
Philip or Pontiac.” 

Yes,” said Lois, quietly, “ and put up an inscription 
over them : ^ The Work of Civilization.’ ” 

“ Plow would ' The process of Evolution ’ do ? ” 
asked Sara Patten. 

“It would be an object lesson, certainly,” com- 
mented Mrs. Parry, who plainly did not respond to 
the Indian suggestion with much enthusiasm ; “ we 


20 


A LOYAL HEART. 


will think it over. At present the programme has, 
besides that I have mentioned, a scene from Wallen- 
stein between Max and Thekla, followed by Thekla^s 
song. This is to be given in German by Miss Sara 
Patten as Thekla, Julia as Grafin — the griffin my 
husband calls it — and Dr. Foster as Max.” 

Ah so ! ” exclaimed Sara, rising and curtseying. 

I had not known my fate before. I believe I like it, 
on the whole, very well.” 

How refreshing ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Parry. That 
is all, I believe, except a classical tableau, Iphigenia 
and Orestes, or something of the kind, not merely to 
vary the programme, but because we have in the club 
one strictly classical Greek profile. Miss Kingsley ! 
Your pardon, my dear, but facts are stubborn things. 
This is to be worked up later — not the profile, — that is 
perfect as it is, — but the picture. What do you think 
of the whole ? Is it good ? ” 

Yery pretry, it seems to me,” replied Miss Bar- 
chet, and just when is it to be given ? ” 

During the holidays. Probably the Wednesday 
evening after Christmas.” 

A discussion of the price of tickets and other 
details followed, during which Lois Fleming rose and 
prepared to go home. Several of the girls followed 


A LOYAL HEART. 


21 


her example, and the little company broke up with 
the emphatic admonitions from Mrs. Parry to remem- 
ber that all the members of the club were to meet at 
the residence of Miss Sayles two evenings later to 
arrange a rehearsal. 

Miss Barchet joined Lois Fleming, as they left the 
house, and they walked down the street together, for a 
time in silence, and then Lois said, in a voice which 
told of suppressed feeling : 

Eachel, you do not know how impossible it seems 
to me to do this thing.’^ 

Ah, Lois,^^ returned the other, dryly, do not be 
intense, I beg of you. It is hardly worth while. Why 
should you care particularly? You mean the 
Juliet, I suppose 

Yes, I am thinking of myself, as I am afraid I 
always do. But truly, it is too much to ask of an 
ignorant girl like me to give such a character as 
Juliet. Bead Mrs. Jameson, think of the women of 
genius who have given years to the study of just this 
one character, and you cannot help seeing the absurd- 
ity of it.^^ 

But, child, who expects you to he J uliet ? There is 
nothing so pretentious thought of as I understand Mrs. 
Parry. You have simply to give your lines loud enough 


22 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


to be heard, and with a certain degree of intelligence, 
which I think is not too much to hope for,’’ — and Miss 
Barchet smiled, — and you will discharge all that is 
required of you.” 

But I hate doing things in that school-girl fashion, 
and besides,” — here Lois stopped so long that her com- 
panion looked into her face with a quick, searching 
glance, and said in her quiet voice, which was not so 
much gentle as subduing, — and besides, what malign 
influence could have led Mrs. Parry to choose John 
Bomeyn for Romeo ? ” 

How do you mean, Lois ? ” 

Don’t you know ? I thought you understood. It 
is an old story, and there is really nothing that one 
need care about, I suppose, but it is thoroughly 
uncomfortable. Simply, Rachel, our relation to the 
Romeyn family is just the one sore place in our family 
life, and it is perfectly needless too.” 

Tell me about it if you will.” 

The girl’s clear face was clouded; a light of 
smothered indignation and wounded feeling made her 
eyes brighter than their wont, as she spoke in response 
to Miss Barchet’s request. 

You know Mrs. Romeyn is a second wife. John 
and Rose Romeyn’s mother died when Rose was a 


A LOYAL HEART. 


23 


little girl. John was much older, ten or twelve years, 
certainly. Father was in the bank from the very 
first, and his relations to Mr. E-omeyn were very con- 
fidential. Mr. Komeyn had the most absolute confi- 
dence in his judgment as well as his integrity, and they 
were really thoroughly good friends. Father was 
cashier.’’ 

He is now, is he not ? ” 

Yes, he is now. But he has not been all the time. 
I shall tell you. Mrs. Eomeyn was a very lovely 
woman, and as intimate with my mother as her hus- 
band was with father. When I was a child there was 
a great deal of pleasant visiting between the two 
families. I used to play with Rose, although she w^as 
several years younger than I, and John Romeyn was 
often with us in those days. I was a child and he a 
tall schoolboy, yet he always had a very nice, inter- 
ested way of talking with me, and I liked him.” 

I understand.” 

“ Be sure you understand that I donH like him 
now,” said Lois, quickly, her eyes flashing. 

Go on!” 

^^Mrs. Romeyn died. In a year or two Mr. 
Romeyn was married again. You know the present 
Mrs. Romeyn?” 


24 


A LOYAL HEABT. 


^^Yes. She is a person of very strong will. I 
fancy she might be very overbearing.^’ 

She carries her points, my dear, you can depend 
upon that. As soon as she came, the tone of every- 
thing changed, and at first we did not understand it. 
Mother called upon her. The call has never been re- 
turned. That was ten years ago.” 

That is not exactly pleasant.” 

She used to come into the bank, and she always 
treated my father in the most irritating way, half 
patronizing, half scornful. In six months, Rachel, 
father was asked to present his resignation.” 

Why, Lois, you amaze me ! ” 

You may be sure that he complied promptly.” 
Who was put in his place ? ” 

Mrs. Romeyn’s brother, Mr. Gibson. He was not 
a good man in any way. Mr. Romeyn endured him 
for two years. He was dissipated, extravagant, bad 
all through. Finally — this is a State secret, remem- 
ber — it was found that he had made certain personal 
appropriations of money on not distinctly business 
principles. This was too much for Mr. Romeyn, and 
Mr. Gibson in turn resigned.” 

^^Then I suppose your father was sent for, and, 
like a wise man, pocketed his pride and went.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


25 


Yes ; that is exactly what he did. It hurt mother 
and me awfully. I do not think he cared so much. 
He had a position, but it was not as good, and he 
never holds a grudge ; it is not in his nature to do 
that.^’ 

How does Mr. Romeyn treat him now ? 

He has never been the same. Of course, there is 
perfect courtesy and respectfulness, but always a con- 
straint, and absolutely nothing but the purely business 
relation. You can see what a change from the old 
days.^^ 

^^And yet, Lois, I can quite understand it. You 
know we never forgive any one we have seriously 
injured.^’ 

Yes ; and then there is Mrs. Romeyn. She hates 
father ; she would, of course, being the woman she is. 
I believe she has made her husband as wretched as 
possible, because for once he did as he chose and asked 
father to come back. Well, you see how it has 
changed everything. The house used to be always 
open to us children, and we used to romp through the 
garden with John and Rose as if it were our oAvn. 
Noav Ave never, of course, go there, never meet any of 
them socially, and do not even recognize each other 
on the street.’^ 


26 


A LOYAL. HEART. 


^^Why should that be so, Lois? I should not 
think the children need take up the feud.^’ 

*^It is inevitable. We have grown completely 
apart. We do not want to know each other, and it is 
easy to avoid recognition without rudeness on either 
side. It is always a discomfort to me, though, to see 
a Romeyn, even in the distance.’’ 

Yes, of course it is ; but I never dreamed of this 
before.” 

^^And now I am to be Juliet for John Romeyn’s 
Romeo, and you helped to do it, Rachel Barchet ! 
Can’t I go to Mrs. Parry now and tell her that it is 
impossible ? ” 

No, dear, I hope you will not. It is far more 
dignified, more womanly, to take your part quietly, 
attaching no importance to this accidental contre- 
temps. And, really, if it should lead to a relation 
of formal civility and acquaintance between you 
and the young Romeyns, it would be a distinct 
gain, and certainly more comfortable and natural for 
you all.” 

Lois was silent for a time. The justice of Miss 
Barchet’s words impressed her. They stopped now on 
a corner where Miss Barchet was to take a car. 

“ What do you think of this entertainment, any- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


27 


way?^^ the girl asked, looking up into her friend^s 
strong face. 

Miss Barchet merely smiled and shook her head 
slightly. 

little learning is a dangerous thing.” 

Lois walked on alone rapidly. The early Novem- 
ber twilight had fallen and the air was raw and bleak. 
But in the girPs mind a sudden memory was making 
spring come back with its sweet air and strange 
delight. She was in the great old garden at the 
Komeyns^, a child of ten, playing hide and seek with 
the others. She remembered how she ran away from 
the rest that morning, drawn by the impulse, so com- 
mon with her, to the great, dim library. They would 
not find her there at first She wandered, a small 
sprite, through the silent place until the book she 
wanted was found, a volume of old ballads. With 
this she escaped through the open casement window 
and found her own secret hiding place, an old sunken 
arbor at the foot of the farthest terrace, half hidden 
by blossoming lilac bushes and overgrown with honey- 
suckle. Such a still place it was, with the green shade 
and the delicious fragrance. In five minutes she was 
in the heart of the Cheviot hills with Percy and the 
hounds, then the honeysuckle branches were stirred at 


28 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


the little doorway, and looking up she saw John 
Eomeyn. He had found her out. 

^^Don^t tell the others,” she said. ^^This is my 
own secret place.” He had found what she was read- 
ing, and asked her if she understood it. ^^Not very 
well,” she told him, “ but I like it.” Then he had 
taken the book from her childish hand and had read 
it in a way that stirred her through and through the 
fine old ballads. He was on fire with the warlike, 
chivalrous spirit of it, and when there came a shout 
of merry, exultant laughter, and little Eose, with all 
her curls tossed with running, burst in upon them, 
followed by the other children, Lois remembered how 
he checked and silenced them with a motion of his 
hand and read on with flashing eyes to the end. 

How it all came back to-night, — the sweet air, the 
thrill of the old ballad, the beautiful, laughing child, 
and John Eomeyn’s voice and look as he read. That 
was ten years ago and more. She had never spoken 
with him since that day. 


CHAPTER III. 


“His name is Romeo and a Montague.” 

— Romeo and Juliet 

I T was Wednesday after Christmas, and the night 
of the entertainment at Gertrude Sayles’ by the 
Literary Club, under the management of Mrs. James 
Parry. Mr. Sayles, Gertrude’s father, was a wealthy 
merchant; his house was large, and among its appoint- 
ments was a miniature concert room at the top of the 
house, fitted with a stage and curtain, and furnished 
with chairs for a hundred people. 

The entertainment was to open at eight o’clock, and 
the guests were already assembling in the parlor 
below, but the audience room was still in the hands 
of Mrs. Parry and her young friends. She was 
moving about on the brightly lighted stage, with 
flushed cheeks and nervous motions, giving various 
final directions with regard to the background, 
positions, and other important points. Most of the 
members of the club were already in costume. The 
bailiff’s daughter of Islington, having carried her 

point and arrayed herself in pink brocade over a 

29 


30 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


green petticoat, — a China shepherdess costume which 
suited her charmingly, — was walking about the room 
with the squire’s son,” whom she was plainly 
driving to desperation with her piquant airs. Elaine 
and Lancelot were standing under a chandelier, con- 
sulting a perfumed and gilded programme, adorned 
with silk tassels. Iphigenia was mending a rent in 
the tunic of Orestes in one corner of the stage. 
Henry VIII. and Max Piccolomini were moving the 
piano, while Cardinal Wolsey was patiently listening 
to Mrs. Parry’s somewhat incoherent directions, and 
submissively darting off in his red robes to carry 
them out, only to be called back the next moment 
and told to do a different thing. Juliet, with a large 
plaid drawn about her, concealing her costume, stood 
near Mrs. Parry, looking a little pale, and even 
anxious. Turning to her now that lady exclaimed : 

think it is so strange that Mr. Romeyn does not 
come. Really it is too bad. You have never had a 
chance to go over the thing with him once, have you, 
Lois ? I don’t see why he could not have come to 
the rehearsal.” 

He probably does not find it necessary to rehearse 
his part,” replied Lois Fleming, in a low voice. It 
had been in a certain way a relief to her that John 


A LOYAL HEART. 


31 


Romeyn had not attended the rehearsals. She dreaded 
meeting him ; she preferred to make as little as might 
be of this association of him with herself, so unsought 
by them both. And yet it stung her pride that he 
stayed away. It was always so with the Romeyns. 
If they did condescend to those outside their own 
sacred circle, it would be in a way to make their 
exclusiveness all the more keenly felt. And then, — 
this thought made the hot blood tingle in Lois’ 
cheeks, — ^what if John Romeyn, knowing who was to 
be Juliet, imagined that it was a situation desired, 
perhaps planned, by her, Lois Fleming, to force a 
renewal of the old boy and girl friendship ? What 
if, thinking thus, he purposely stayed away to the last 
moment, the more clearly to show her that he did not 
want to know her or to remember that he had ever 
been her good comrade? There had not been through 
all the years one sign of friendliness from him. He 
might have said a word to her father of confidence 
and sympathy which would have been a comfort and 
a balm to them all. He must have known what they 
had suffered ; he must have known her father’s good- 
ness and worthiness, but no word had ever been 
spoken that Lois knew. All these reflections — the 
old, helpless heartache borne tlirougli many patient 


82 


A LOYAL HEART. 


years, the new humiliation and dread of the last 
month — were working and interworking to-night in 
the girFs sensitive heart, making her tremulous and 
faint. 

If this wretched evening were only over and past ! 
If John Romeyn might only know at its end that his 
pride was yet no mate for hers, that she had not 
sought him, that she wanted never to see him again ! 

“ On your account, my dear,^^ Mrs. Parry was say- 
ing, if not on his own.” 

Sh ! ” whispered Queen Katharine, I think he 
is coming now.” 

The gentleman who had just entered was approach- 
ing the stage to speak with Mrs. Parry. He had a 
fine, intellectual face and head, and carried about him 
a certain indefinable air of elegance and distinction. 
He wore a long overcoat, and held a sealskin cap in 
his hand. 

Mrs. Parry stepped to the edge of the platform, 
saying, with a smile of very obvious relief and satis- 
faction : 

Good-evening, Mr. Romeyn.” 

‘^Good-evening, Mrs. Parry,” he returned. And 
every one in the room was listening and looking. He 
seemed to feel this, and lowered his voice as he con- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


33 


tinned ; I beg your pardon for being a little late. 
I have been unavoidably detained.’^ 

How about your costume ? asked Mrs. Parry. 
It was growing late. 

Oh, that is looked out for, thank you. A pack- 
age has been received for me here, I think, — my hat, 
and so forth. I am, in fact, already in costume under 
this,” touching his overcoat. And now, Mrs. Parry, 
if you will be so kind as to present me to the young 
lady who is to take the part of Juliet. I think you 
have not told me her name even, or else I have for- 
gotten.” 

Lois ! ” Mrs. Parry beckoned the girl to come 
forward, but Lois either did not hear or did not 
choose CO obey. She remained standing in the back- 
ground of the stage, talking with one of the singers. 

Mr. Romeyn was on the stage in an instant, and 
Mrs. Parry led him across it to the place where Lois 
stood in the shadow of some tall palms. 

Mr. Romeyn, Miss Fleming. He is of the house 
of Montague, fair Juliet, and therefore your dearest 
foe,” added Mrs. Parry, laughing, all unconscious of 
how dangerously near she came to the truth. 

Confronted thus by John Romeyn, all the tumult 

and agitation of Lois’ mind gave sudden place to 

c 


34 


A LOYAL HEART. 


calmness and self-possession. She knew on the instant 
that she could hold herself in hand and command the 
situation as she chose. This would be the easier 
because she was quite sure that, so far, he did not 
recognize her. For herself, no ray of recognition 
betrayed lier, and she received his remark, Hence- 
forth I never will be Fomeo,^^ with a coldness which 
seemed to ask a truce to that kind of repartee. It 
was instantly evident to John Korney n that this young 
lady was not minded to make much of the situation. 

Somewhat icy for a Juliet,^’ was his inward com- 
ment, but his manner expressed only the utmost 
deference during the brief interview which followed. 

We will try and forget when we are on the stage, 
will we not,’^ he asked, kindly, ^^that we are our 
veritable selves? You will be Juliet, and I, Komeo.’’ 

“I, Capulet, and you, Montague,’^ said Lois, quietly. 

What’s Montague ? ” he returned, looking at her 
and laughing frankly. In that glance at her face a 
sudden thought struck him. He recalled the name 
Fleming,” which had made no impression upon him 
in the introduction, and a shadow, which did not 
escape Lois, fell upon his face. 

Just then there was a sudden noise and a rush to 
clear the stage. The guests were already entering the 


A LOYAL HEART. 


35 


room. The curtain was dropped, and Lois betook 
herself hastily to her dressing room. 

Mrs. Parry, now quite at ease, went about the room 
with Mrs. Sayles, greeting her friends, smiling and 
talking gayly. She was in her element. Socially, 
she was convinced the evening was to be a success, as 
she saw one and another from the more aristocratic 
families in turn enter the room. They had been 
invited on the score of their interest in the Indian 
Association, just now the fashionable benevolence. 
Whether or not they would come ! That had given 
her a little anxiety. 

Who is that girl ? she whispered to Mrs. Sayles, 
pressing her arm, and indicating a young lady who 
was entering the room as she spoke. 

With Miss Barchet ? 

^^Yes.^^ 

That is Rose Romeyn.” 

The girl in question was tall and beautifully formed. 
The full, round curves of her figure were as if modeled 
on the old Greek plan, and in striking contrast to the 
angular type of woman most common among American 
girls. Her bearing and walk were queenly. Her 
hair was of a rare red-gold color, her eyes of that 
hazel wliich changes from light to dark. Her lips 


36 


A LOYAL HEART. 


were full, and the expression of the mouth proud, and 
yet not unlovely. 

She has the air of a mature woman,’^ whispered 
Mrs. Parry ; she carries herself magnificently. Is 
it possible she is only eighteen ? 

As Mrs. Parry went to speak to Miss Barchet and 
secure an introduction to Miss Romeyn, she wondered 
if her beauty would not suffer on a closer view. But 
when she shook hands with the girl and saw, with a 
comprehensive look which nothing escaped, that the 
tints of her skin were perfect, that she had a slow, 
sweet smile and a girlish manner, half proud, half 
shy, but strangely charming, Mrs. Parry surrendered 
all thoughts of criticism upon the person of Rose 
Romeyn. Instantly her mind leaped to the realiza- 
tion of the distinction her entertainment won from the 
presence of this beautiful girl, and she received her 
with winning cordiality. 

The audience being seated, Mrs. Parry withdrew 
behind the scenes, and the entertainment began with 
instrumental music, after which the curtain rose upon 
the first tableau from Elaine. The following scene 
on the river, cleverly devised with a foreground of 
reeds and rushes, the gray old boatman, the white, 
upturned face of Elaine with the enshrouding golden 


A LOYAL HEART. 


37 


hair, was singularly pathetic and impressive. People 
wondered who had conceived the novel presentation 
of the v^ell-known idyl, and Mrs. Parry’s name was 
whispered about the room with many flattering com- 
ments. 

The other scenes and songs followed without 
break or interruption, each receiving warm applause, 
and Mrs. Parry, her heart throbbing hard with pride 
and excitement, found that she had safely arrived at 
the last scene and the masterpiece of the evening, — 
Romeo and Juliet. 

The stage had been transformed into a garden; 
there was no light except a pale, silvery gleam flickering 
through the clustering branches of hemlocks and fall- 
ing upon the glossy leaves of palms. At the left was 
a low balcony, closely embowered with green. It was 
empty, as was the garden, for a moment after the 
rising of the curtain, allowing the audience to catch 
the still, mysterious charm supposed to belong to the 
time and place. In another moment, Romeo, a figure 
of manly grace, was in the midst of the garden, and 
• with his first words, 

“ He jests at scars who never felt a wound,” 
spoken in a full, deep voice with one strong gesture. 


38 


A LOYAL HEART. 


had thrilled and captured his audience. In another 
breath followed the words : 

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? ’’ 

and a lovely lady stood in the balcony. Lois Flem- 
ing could never have looked in her life before as she 
looked that night. She was not called a beautiful 
girl, but that night she was wondrously beautiful, 
with a strange loveliness, at which all who knew her 
marveled. Her face was white, and her eyes seemed 
to have grown large and dark and full of brilliant 
light ; her expression was rapt, as if she were carried 
out of herself. All that people knew about her dress 
was that from her head down to her feet fell gossamer 
drapery, cloud like, fleecy, white, with no touch of 
color. Throughout Romeo’s long apostrophe, she 
stood motionless, her hands raised, clasping the 
slender pillar of the balcony, her cheek pressed against 
them, looking upward absorbed, unconscious, — a face 
and figure so lovely, so ethereal, that some of those 
who looked on almost feared she would have vanished 
out of their sight. 

Lois possessed a voice of unusual quality, — clear, 
sweet, low, but strong, and even that first sigh, ^^Ah, 
me ! ” although hardly more than breathed, was heard 


A LOYAL HEART. 


39 


and felt through the entire room. When she spoke 
again, the audience found that this spirit’^ was a 
woman too.^^ 

“ 0 Romeo, Romeo ! wherefore art thou Romeo?” 

was given with girlish, impetuous earnestness and 
searcely smothered fire. Those who knew Lois Flem- 
ing — reserved, self-contained, undemonstrative — won- 
dered moi’e and more. Miss Barchet, liowever, did 
not intend to be surprised at any latent genius which 
the girl might develope ; she had always believed her 
capable of extraordinary things. 

After the glowing words with which Juliet pours 
out the story of her love to the silence and the night, 
comes the discovery that she is not alone. With the 
words, What man art thou ? the whole being of 
the girl seemed to undergo a change. Voice, manner, 
features, expressed alarmed and haughty reserve, 
shading finely through degrees of solicitude for the 
safety of her lover to the tenderness of those matchless 
lines, beginning : 

“Thou know’st the mask of night is on my face.” 

The delicate purity and grace which were given to 
this confession fairly carried the little audience by 
storm. 


40 


A LOYAL HEART. 


E-ose Eomeyn, sitting beside Miss Barchet, whis- 
pered : 

‘^Who is that doing Juliet for John’s Borneo? I 
never saw anything like the effect she has on him. 
Do you not see how he is drawn out of himself? ’’ 

I see. She is an incomparable girl.” 

To which Bose responded : 

I must meet her. I want to see what she is like. 
Be sure and manage it for me, won’t you ? ” 

The scene was short, the spectators sorry to have the 
end come so soon. With persistent applause the two 
were called before the curtain, but when they appeared, 
the audience saw in place of Juliet only a white, cold 
girl, who trembled perceptibly as she stood before 
them with downcast eyes. John Bomeyn noticed that 
the hand which rested reluctantly in his for an instant 
was like ice; and when, as they withdrew into the 
little room at the side of the stage and he had begun 
a formal congratulation upon the success of her 
performance, there was a sudden, swift sweep of the 
white draperies through the door, and his Juliet had 
vanished out of his sight. 


CHAPTER IV. 


“ What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult 
for each other? ” — George Eliot. 


“ I read of the ermine to-day, 

Of the ermine who will not step, 
By the feint of a step, in the mire ; 
The creature who will not stain 
Her garment of wild, white fire.” 


•Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. 


OIS had scarcely reached the door of her dressing 



room when Miss Barchet overtook her, having 
entered the corridor by another way. She took the 
girPs trembling hands in her strong grasp, and said : 

You are not going to run away, little girl 

Yes, as fast as I can. I shall only wait to change 
my gown. I must leave all this here.” And she 
glanced impatiently down at the trailing gauze. 

But I do not want you to go yet, Lois. There is 
some one I want you to meet. She is waiting now 
for you to say she may come.” 

Who is it ? ” asked Lois, wearily. 

It is Rose Romeyn.” 

Lois’ cheeks flushed deeply. 


41 


42 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


RacM!^' she cried. not one Korney n 

enough ? Have you no mercy on me ? It has been 
cruelly hard. Please let me get away from it all.^’ 

will let you, dear/^ returned Miss Barchet, 
gravely, but I have asked this of you, although I 
knew it would be hard, in the Master’s name.” 

Lois’ face changed. Some controlling influence 
steadied her at once. 

How do you mean ? ” 

The girl needs something at your hands. I feel 
it, but I cannot explain it. She is drifting into ways 
of thinking and doing which are not best for her. I 
want her to come under an influence like yours.” 
There was a little silence, and Miss Barchet added : 

To-night, I think, you can touch her. Maybe the 
time will never come again.” 

With a swift, unexpected change of mood which 
was one of her peculiar charms, Lois pushed Miss 
Barchet away from her with both hands, saying, with 
a pretty, willful smile ; 

^‘Just go right along and get Kose Komeyn as 
quickly as you can ! ” 

Miss Barchet left her, well pleased, and a moment 
later Rose stood before Lois in the dressing room; 
the door was closed and they were left alone. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


43 


Do you remember me, Kose ? asked Lois, looking 
with sweet, steady eyes into the girks face. 

Rose returned the look in silence for a moment, 
and then asked, slowly : 

Did we use to play together when we were chil- 
dren ? Are you Lois ? 

All Lois’ heart went out to Rose through her eyes. 
The child she used to love was still so plain in her. 

Little Rose ! ” she whispered, gently. And they 
kissed each other, with tears filling their eyes. It was 
a sudden, overmastering influence, taking them each 
by surprise; a reaction to the sense of present rela- 
tions and circumstances followed it. Rose broke the 
silence, saying in her ordinary society ” tone, half 
ashamed of the emotion she had betrayed : 

I wanted to tell you, although I did not know in 
the least that it was you, how much I enjoyed your 
Juliet. Really, I don’t know when I have been so 
charmed with anything. My brother must have been 
immensely surprised, I am sure. He wasn’t expect- 
ing to find such a genius in Mrs. Parry’s literary 
circle.” 

Lois smiled a little at the unconscious rudeness. 

You must be very proud, I should think,” Rose 
went on with her smooth, careless praise, ^Ho have 


44 


A LOYAL HEART. 


made such a sensation. You were altogether the 
success of the evening, you know. You must have 
enjoyed it ; you did it so well.’^ 

“ I did not enjoy it at all,” returned Lois, quietly, 
giving Rose a chair, while she herself took a place on 
a divan close at hand. It was dreadful to me all 
the time, down below the surface, and it will be much 
more dreadful when I have time to think about it.” 

I can’t imagine what you mean,” said Rose, in 
great surprise. 

How shall I explain it ? ” cried Lois. And then, 
with a sudden thought, she took a rosebud from a 
bowl which stood on a table beside her, and said : It 
is treating your soul, your inner self, whatever you 
may name it, as you would treat this bud, if you 
should force it by artificial means to suddenly blos- 
som, and then should crush it with a hot, heavy hand, 
so that its petals should be tarnished and bruised. 
Do you see what I mean ? ” 

‘‘ Partly, but I cannot feel as you do about it.” 

The more deeply one entered into it, the worse it 
would be forever. I would not do again what I have 
done to-night for anything I can think of. I know 
it is not right ; it would not be for me at least with 
my temperament.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


45 


How very strange yon are ! ” exclaimed Rose ; I 
should think you would be perfectly intoxicated with 
the sense of success and the admiration of every one. 
If I could do such a thing, I know I should be. I 
don’t believe 1 should consider long whether it was 
right or not.” 

Is not right in all such ways simply the instinct 
of self-preservation in the soul? We know a thing 
will surely hurt and spoil, now or by-and-by, and so 
we reject it and draw back.” 

^‘But what if we have no instinct prompting us 
to draw back, but go on, and want to, deeper and 
deeper?” Rose asked this with a sudden eagerness 
in her face, although her voice was forced to half 
indifference as it had been before. She had risen 
to go. 

Lois saw the change in her expression and wondered 
what lay behind it. 

“We need pray then, most of all, do you not 
think so, even if we do not feel the need ? ” 

The simple directness of the words, going down 
through all the artificial tangles between them 
“straight as a line of light,” was like Lois Fleming. 
Rose looked at her surprised. 

“ How funny to be talking religion here,” she said. 


46 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


with a little laugh, opening the door. I shall see 
you down stairs later.” 

^No, I am going home at once.” 

Oh, you must not. John would be disappointed.” 

Lois did not smile or reply. The door closed, but 
before her hand had left the latch, Kose opened it 
again and said, with a childish petulance which was 
strangely familiar to Lois, Why donT you ask me 
to come and see you, Lois Fleming ? ” 

do ask you, dear. Please come.” Then the 
door was shut. 

Down stairs, in the supper room, John Korney n 
was saying to Miss Barchet : 

Ward Fleming’s daughter, and I have not seen 
her in all these years ! I had not the slightest thought 
of who she was for some time, and could not satisfy 
myself to the very end. In very truth she is a 
Capulet.” And his face was graver than his 
words. 

^^Her rendering of Juliet was exquisite, did you 
not think so ? ” asked Miss Barchet, disguising the 
eager interest which she felt in her usual quiet, 
unemotional tone. 

It was very wonderful,” was his brief answer. 

After a little pause, for Miss Barchet had no inten- 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


47 


tion of drawing out any stronger expression than he 
chose to give, J ohn Romeyn asked : 

Where do you suppose she got such a conception 
of her part ? Did some one work it up with her — 
this Mrs. Parry, for instance ? 

Miss Barchet flashed a look of almost indignant 
remonstrance at him, but did not speak. He took 
in the meaning of her glance, and responded with an 
amused, appreciative smile. 

I see,^’ he said, quietly. 

Nevertheless, Mrs. Parry is a woman of amazing 
capacity,’^ rejoined Miss Barchet; ^^but Lois Fleming’s 
spirit is ^touched’ more finely than others that I 
know, — I might say than any other.” 

^^You may,” said John Bomeyn. I shall not 
contradict you. I am at present rather overawed 
myself at the genius which could develop a Juliet — 
and such a Juliet — out of the icy calmness and frigid 
propriety of the Miss Fleming to whom I was intro- 
duced. It really struck me as a little in the conjuring 
line. However, it is quite explained now.” 

A moment later, John Romeyn caught sight of 
Lois as she passed through the hall on her way to 
take her carriage. He excused himself to Miss 
Barchet, and overtook Lois in the vestibule, where she 


48 


A LOYAL HEART. 


had to wait a moment. She was wrapped from head 
to foot in a white cloak, and with a deep color in her 
cheeks and an over-brightness in her eyes under a 
little confusion of fair, fluffy hair, looked like a lovely, 
tired child. 

She accepted his escort from the door to the carriage 
passively, but when he was about to ask her if he 
might not call upon her the next day, to learn whether 
she suffered from the evening’s fatigue, her look and 
manner withheld him, and he closed the carriage door, 
simply saying, Good-night.” 


CHAPTER Y. 


“ Personality is inherently royal; it is kingliness done up 
in small packages, and is bound to be kingly. ... It is in 
this respect that our Lord’s life furnished us with an example 
so noteworthy.” — Dr. Charles H. Parhhurst. 



H, I think this world is such a very mixed-up 


^ place; I wish I could ‘get me to a nun- 
nery ! ^ I’m tired of so many tangles.” 

It was Lois Fleming who said this, sitting with her 
mother, on an afternoon early in February, at work 
upon “ white sewing.” Mrs. Fleming’s sewing room, 
a little nook just behind the library, v/as a favorite 
rallying point in the house, chiefly because “the 
mother” was oftenest to be found there. All the 
private enterprises of all the Flemings, big and little, 
were brought here for discussion, and generally left 
their traces behind. School books of all ages and 
sizes found a refuge here; specimens of birds and 
bugs waiting to be mounted ; faney work waiting to 
be continued ; atlases and guide books for the tracing 
of journeys “in Spain,” — all found in this room a 
happy haven. Mrs. Fleming believed in what her 


50 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


children did. Conversely, they did not do what she 
did not believe in ; hence the unclouded fellowship be- 
tween them. Jamie never found a bug whose beau- 
ties his mother failed to discover, and Walter never 
projected a tour, even to the highest peak of the 
Caucasus, without her. Little Bertha — Bee they called 
her — had not yet outgrown the age of sitting on a 
footstool ^^at mamma’s feet”; Lois had not, either, for 
that matter, and she was twenty-two now, the oldest 
of the four. 

Mrs. Fleming made no immediate reply to Lois’ 
exclamation, but in a moment she said, smiling : 

Please baste that ruffle a little closer, Lois ; you 
may save one tangle at least in that way.” 

Lois broke off her thread hastily and bit her lip 
with a little laugh, under which her mother noticed a 
quiver in her breath. 

^^Well, dear, what is it? Why the nunnery? 
What’s the matter with the world?” 

Lois leaned back in her chair, looking out at the 
window with troubled eyes. 

Did you hear what Mrs. Parry wanted with me?” 
she asked. 

^^No.” 

They talk of repeating the Christmas entertain- 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


51 


ment, and she came to see if I would do my part 
again.^^ 

Of course you excused yourself/^ 

Of course. I tried to be as nice about it as I 
could, but I am afraid that wasn’t very nice. It isn’t 
for the Indians this time, mamma, it’s for the Orphan 
Asylum, with variations. Injuns is out, orflings is 
in, just now ! ” 

You are a naughty girl, Lois.” 

Yo, ma’am, Mrs. Fleming, I deny it. I am not 
naughty. I am only dead tired of shams, — sham 
Indians and sham orphans, sham Sehiller and sham 
Shakespeare, sham charity and sham religion !” And 
Lois came to a sudden stop, with indignant eyes and 
a strange little sternness about the sweet lips, which 
broke away into a smile in spite of herself at . her 
mother’s laughing comment : 

Don’t break your lance on the first windmill, Lois.” 

I am not enthusiastically devoted to Mrs. James 
Parry,” she retorted, but I should not have called 
her a windmill.” 

^^Oh, dear me!” cried her mother; “is all this 
outburst designed for poor Mrs. Parry? What has 
she done so dreadful ? I am sure she is a very bright 
little woman.” 


52 


A LOYAL HEART. 


yes, of course she is. That is one of the 
things I am getting tired of, — one of the reasons why 
I want the nunnery. Do you believe they are bright 
in nunneries, mamma ? I hope not ; if they are, my 
last hope is gone ! 

^^Come, Lois, do tell me what you are talking 
about.’’ 

think it is Mrs. Parry’s versatility that has 
undone me,” said Lois, meditatively. ^^So many 
littles, and I am not a bit sure about their making a 
mickle. You see, mother, Mrs. Parry has come here 
almost entirely a stranger, — bright, of course, and 
ambitious to let her light shine, also to let it shine in 
the first circles, please notice.” 

Aren’t you a little hard ? ” 

‘^Oh, dear, no; that is clearly understood. Well, 
Mrs. Parry has such a lot of littles, as I said, — a little 
German, a little Frencli, a little English literature, a 
little dramatic talent, a little music, a little social tact, 
a little artistic taste, a little religion perhaps, — I am 
not sure about that, — and then this very, very large 
ambition.” 

Mrs. Fleming listened soberly. 

Has she any children ? I forget.” 

Yes, one, also little. She does her very effectively. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


bS 


Long flaxen hair and all that sort of thing. Well, 
now, mamma, I am not talking nonsense. You have 
no idea how this thing has hurt, and puzzled, and 
Avorried me all winter. What do you think Mrs. 
Parry cared about the Indian Association when she 
got up our programme last fall? At first I never 
dreamed of doubting that she had an eye single to the 
Avelfare of the Ped man, but I saAV long before the 
end that black spirits or Avhite, red spirits or gray, 
Avere all one to her. The Indian Association is con- 
ducted by the most aristocratic Avomen in town. That, 
my dear mother, Avas the reason Avhy Ave Avorked for 
the Indian Association. You saw who attended our 
entertainment. It Avas the happiest moment of Mrs. 
Parry’s life in Exeter, I have no doubt. Whether 
the permanent gain has been in proportion to the 
amount of efibrt put forth, or to her great expecta- 
tions, I am not sure. Still, she alludes very often to 
the Randolphs and the Brewsters ; perhaps they have 
called upon her. But just now, you knoAV, Mrs. Royal 
Eaton is pushing the Orphan Asylum very hard. 
Mrs. Parry Avould like to knoAV Mrs. Eaton Avell. 
Hence, the Literary Club Avill give an entertainment 
for the benefit of the Orphans. What did I tell you 
about sham charity ? ” 


54 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Mrs. Fleming did not reply. 

it were only Mrs. Parry, it would be easy 
enough to call her a type,^^ continued Lois, and let 
it go at that. But the whole system of fashionable 
charities and benevolent work is tangled up with the 
same thing.’’ 

^^You seem to have been making a study of our 
charitable organizations,” said her mother, smiling. 

I couldn’t help it. I didn’t like to. But this is 
the way some of them at least are conducted. There 
are a few underlings who do the hard work and get 
blamed for it, except on show days, when they are 
praised to the skies and always called ‘ our dear Mrs. 
So and so,’ or ^ our faithful and efficient Miss Some- 
thing or other,’ for fear they will refuse to work the 
coming year. Then there are ever so many women 
who pay a dollar a year for the sake of having their 
names appear as members, and for the reflex influence 
upon the self-esteem of saying that they are interested 
in this or that charity. Then at the top, with large 
smiles, satin gowns, and well-fed horses, are the 
wealthy ladies who are looked up to as patronesses, and 
who get the glory without doing the work. That is 
almost the way it is, I really believe, mamma, and I 
am so tired of the whole of it.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


55 


But the orphans and the old ladies and the other 
friendless folk are taken care of, my dear, through 
just these means. What would you have ? All our 
methods are imperfect because we are.’^ 

Yes ; but, mamma, it seems so wide of Christ’s 
kind of charity, — all these Boards and officers and 
annual meetings, and the jealousies and ambitions. 
Above all, the thing which troubles me most, the 
things we do to raise money, and the reasons why we 
do them. Do you suppose that we girls were really 
working for the Indians last Christmas time ? No ; 
we were working for ourselves. Every one of ns was 
trying to make herself as attractive, as charming, as 
successful as she could. The whole thing was exag- 
gerated selfism. I know that isn’t a word, but it’s 
what I mean. I know what was true of me was true 
of the other girls. We cared chiefly each for her own 
part, and were wrought up to the highest point of 
excitement when the moment came, not for any noble 
cause, but for a little private pride, not one bit better 
than Mrs. James Parry’s.” 

Is that the way you went into your part ? ” 

^^I do not know how I did, really. I was, you 
know, very much moved about meeting John Bomeyn, 
and when we took our parts I forgot everything but 


66 


A LOYATi HEART. 


the feeling that a girl must have who said what I was 
saying. I suppose that is what people liked about it, 
but I wish I had not felt it and done it as I did.” 
And Lois’ cheeks flushed hotly with the thought. 

It seems to me that acting cannot be a good thing, 
mamma ; every noble or base experience must be 
anticipated by one who acts often ; and how can it 
help brushing off the delicacy and freshness of one’s 
heart life? There is nothing left sacred and un- 
touched. At least, I have made up my mind about 
the theatre.” 

Have you really, Lois ? That is a great step. It 
has been a vexed question with you so long.” 

“ It is a thing that I feel keenly, but hardly know 
how to explain. You see I was hurt, humiliated that 
night in doing the little thing I did. Then I began 
thinking. What if I did that, only far more of it, 
every night and became fascinated with the applause 
and excitement, what w^ould be left of me as a woman, 
even if I kept clear from outward stain? What 
would be left to make a woman like you, mamma 
dear, safe and strong and pure? It seemed to me 
that whatever might be the effect upon the spectators, 
acting, professionally, could not help being a wicked, 
shameful blight upon the girls who follow it. They 


A LOYAIi HEART. 


57 


sacrifice almost everything for success, and what a 
pitiful little gain it is ! I wonder how it looks to 
God ? ” Lois spoke in an almost awe-struck voice. 

Then, you see, I could not help thinking that if the 
stage spoils the women who are on it, every one who 
supports the stage as a spectator is doing his or her 
part in the process. Plain as two and two, isn’t it ? 
Of course, I sha’n’t go to the theatre any more. It’s 
a relief to have that settled.” And Lois smiled a 
smile of such content and satisfaction that her mother 
could not keep tears, whose source she hardly under- 
stood, from springing to her eyes. 

Put that down to the credit of Mrs. Parry’s enter- 
tainment at least,” she said. 

“That and Rose Romeyn,” said Lois, smiling. 
“ However, that truce has hardly fulfilled my hope. 
She has never been here, after all. I wish I could 
see her again. She haunts me.” 

“ She went back to school very soon, I suppose.” 

“ Yes, of course. It is not strange that I have not 
seen her.” 

“ John Romeyn is abroad, I think.” 

“Very likely. But what a long way we have 
come. It wasn’t the theatre I meant to talk about. 
I want to finish up my first tangle, if I can.” 


58 


A LOYAL HEART. 


About the beuevolent work?’’ 

Yes. I have made up my mind that I cannot 
work, and that I ought not to, in these ways. I don’t 
believe in them, and I think it makes me wicked to 
pretend to be in sympathy with what I despise.” 

Oh, Lois, you are so extreme ! ” 

I’m afraid I am, but I have come to the point of 
feeling that if I can’t work at first hand for people, I 
won’t work at all. The little that I can do, mamma, I 
mean to do for the needy folks themselves, direct, not 
for Lois Fleming and the gratification of her pride, 
nor for Mrs. Parry and her elevation into fashionable 
life, nor for the sake of having a better report to pub- 
lish than some other kindred society, and then, when 
all the various ends have been accomplished, handing 
over a few hard, hateful dollars to some unfor- 
tunate beings without one grain of sympathy or 
real thought for them, least of all a prayer or an 
ounce of direct, honest work. Can you imagine the 
disciples ” 

Here Lois was interrupted by the entrance of the 
maid, who brought her a card. Leading the name, 
the girl’s face grew bright with surprise and pleasure. 
She handed it to her mother. The name on the card 
was Rose Romeyn. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


59 


How strange ! said Mrs. Fleming, as Lois rose to 
go into the parlor; ^^we must have felt her coming.’^ 
E-ose Romeyn was very beautiful that afternoon in 
the richness of her dark velvet and fur. It was not 
in harmony with Lois’ theory of fitness for a school 
girl to be dressed in the magnificence of a dowager 
duchess,” as she said to herself, but she could not help 
forgiving it in Rose, it was so superlatively becoming. 

I could not come in the Christmas vacation,” she 
said to Lois when they had exchanged greetings, and 
you know I have been in school steadily ever since. 
I am only at home now for a few days, to have some 
gowns made for Easter.” 

That must be highly important,” laughed Lois. 

Oh, yes,” returned Rose, with a little affected 
drawl which Lois had not noticed in their previous 
meeting, we have to have a lot of things there at 
Madame Leton’s. You’ve no idea of how much there 
is going on. It’s a great bore, but then you have to 
do it.” 

should think you would prefer a different 
school,” said Lois, frankly. “ How can you study if 
there is so much going on in a society way ? ” 

Rose shrugged her shoulders, at the same time 
lifting her eyebrows with a sarcastic little smile. It 


60 


A LOYAL HEART. 


vexed Lois, the palpable imitation of the boarding- 
school Frenchwoman’s trick. What a pity for a 
child like Lose to be forming herself on that model ! 
To be sure, Rose was only four years younger than 
Lois, but she always thought of her as a little girl. 

Rose, do you really like all that sort of thing ? ” 
The question broke its way half impatiently. 

Surprised, Rose forgot her drawl and her ennuis 
and answered in straightforward fashion that she 
believed she did like it, and that she hated studying, 
and was glad to be in a school where one could get 
along respectably on a very small amount of work. 

To no one could a declaration of this kind have 
been more pei-plexing than to Lois Fleming, with her 
uncompromising demands upon her own very best in 
everything as to the Lord,” and her keen delight in 
intellectual work for its own sake. She kept her 
thought to herself as w^ell as she could, however, 
determined not to antagonize the girl at the outset, 
since she seemed drawn to her in an inexplicable way, 
which Lois took for granted was God’s. She would 
ignore the points of difference and find a point of 
contact. But it was hard to find. They did not read 
the same books, or know the same people or care 
for the same things, and while Rose probably knew 


A LOYAL HEART. 


61 


nothing of the history of Mr. Fleming’s connection 
with her father’s bank, and cared nothing for the 
alienation between the two families, even if she real- 
ized it, Lois could not rid herself of the consciousness 
of it throughout the call. It was only at the very 
end that a little touch of nature” came to bring 
them together. Rose had risen to go, and lingered to 
look at a porcelain miniature of Lois as a child, an 
almost ideal little head, with the sweet, childish eyes, 
thoughtful and wondering, but not clearer nor purer 
than Lois’ eyes to-day. Rose thought. 

That is just as I remember you,” she said, quite 
gently ; you were slight, and had fair hair, and ran 
so swiftly, and could do everything better than the 
rest, I used to think.” 

How very sweet of you ! ” 

Rose smiled brightly, and with a sudden recollec- 
tion which brought the child look back into her face, 
dispelling the acquired ‘^society” languor, she ex- 
claimed : 

“ Oh, Lois, do you remember the swing we used to 
have under the big oak tree, and how you and John 
used to stand in it together and go so high, oh, until 
the rope slackened and one could not breathe? Do you 
remember it? I used to stand by the snowball bush. 


62 


A LOYAL HEART. 


I know, and clap my hands, and wonder if you would 
not really sail away entirely, and I always felt as if I 
had captured you again when the swing came back.” 

Indeed Lois remembered ! 

There is one time that is always so clear in my 
mind,” Rose went on more quietly ; we had been 
racing all over the garden, and were hot and tired, 
and my mother called us upon the veranda, to sit 
down and rest around a little table where she had 
lemonade ready for us. I remember her better as she 
looked that morning than any other time. She wore 
a white dress, and was so cool and her voice so quiet ; 
and that smile in her eyes when she looked at us, I 
have never forgotten.” 

I remember her that very morning, and I know 
I thought that the angels must look just as she did, 
with such a smile and such white hands. It was like 
a child to think that.” 

Oh, Lois, I am so glad you remember her.” And 
with the words sudden tears came, beyond the girPs 
power to control in spite of her strong will. 

Lois kissed her silently, her whole heart yearning 
with pity and love, not of love because she was 
motherless and sad perhaps at heart and needy of 
love, but because she was Rose Romeyn and in her 


A LOYAL HEART. 


63 


own person, in spite of all that was wrong in her, had 
won her heart. 

Rose was ready to go. She had controlled herself 
now, although her lips trembled as she spoke. 

Everything has gone wrong since she died. It 
was not right, her leaving us. We needed her, I most 
of all. I can never be good now, Lois Fleming, like 
you. I might have been, perhaps. Good-bye.’’ 
And so she went. 

While Lois was in the parlor with Rose, Mr. 
,Fleming had come in, and, as usual, betaken himself 
directly to his wife’s sewing room. She looked up to 
greet him with radiant eyes. All manner of sweet 
looks belonged to those eyes of Mrs. Fleming’s for 
her children and her friends and all who came into 
her world, but the supreme radiance was Ward 
Fleming’s alone, the light of his life that never 
failed. 

“ Ward,” she said, when he had seated himself in a 
much- worn old easy chair which was especially his 
own, ^^Lois is a wonderful child.” And she pro- 
ceeded to repeat to him much of their recent conver- 
sation. 

Somewhat revolutionary that little girl of ours,” 
was Ward Fleming’s half-amused comment, as he 


64 


A LOYAL HEART. 


heard of the ground which Lois had taken regarding 
benevolent work. 

She is mistaken, of course,” returned Mrs. Flem- 
ing; ^Mt is the natural mistake of a young person 
intolerant of everything imperfect, because she has 
not found out yet that there is no perfection in any 
of our methods. But v/hat makes me proud of her is 
that she thinks for herseltj and in w^ays which are 
really very noble, if they are not worldly-wise.” 

I should not interfere very much with these moral 
processes through which she is passing just now,” said 
Mr. Fleming, thoughtfully, after a pause. Let her 
work the problem out herself. She will come out all 
right, even if she makes a few mistakes. It is the 
only way we really learn anything in life. And then, 
as you say, Mary, her tendency is to err on the right 
side ; I can see that, with all a father’s strict imparti- 
ality. Let her keep out of the fashionable charities, 
if she prefers to. I sometimes feel myself that they 
are largely ^ vanity and vexation of spirit.’ ” 

‘^But the thing which stirs me through and through, 
dear,” returned his wife, ^Ms the conclusion she has 
reached regarding the theatre. You know we have 
left that an open question for her to decide for herself. 
She has seen much in favor of it, as we know, and 


A LOYAL HEART. 


65 


has been in the way of going occasionally to the best 
plays. But, you see, in taking this part of Juliet, 
into which she entered in a wonderful way, she felt, 
what she had never considered before, the effect ot 
acting upon the actors themselves.” 

I think very few people take that into the account. 
The question is always as to whether the spectator is 
injured or his weak brother, with the invariable answer 
that he is not, or has no business to be, if he wants to 
go.” 

I know. The idea of bearing one another’s bur- 
dens to the extent of caring for the spiritual interests 
of the people on the stage has not, I think, become 
popular, at least as yet. Well, Lois found that she 
won applause in her Juliet, because she imagined her- 
self in love, and expressed what a girl would think 
and feel in her inmost heart in such an experience. 
The effect upon her was very painful. She felt as if 
she had forced herself into what was not for her to 
know — now, — the most sacred of everything, and had 
used it unworthily. She said herself, the more she 
entered into it, the worse it made it. She felt a dis- 
tinct, spiritual, and moral loss resulting from even so 
slight a taste of acting as that. From that she rea- 
soned as to the effect of acting upon the average woman 
E 


66 


A LOYAL HEART. 


who makes it a profession. Of course, you see the 
result.'' 

“ I see." 

^^The beautiful thing in Lois," continued Mrs. 
Fleming, tenderly, was her simplicity and directness 
about it all. Once having seen that the stage is sus- 
tained by the sacrifice of the highest womanhood as 
well as manhood, she said, simply : ^ Of course, I shall 
not go to the theatre any more.' There was no argu- 
ing the question further. The thing being obviously 
hurtful, it became at once impossible. How many 
girls would have clung to some doubt or some com- 
promise ! Lois did not for a moment, and she did 
not in the least think that she was doing an unusual 
or commendable thing. She Avas sweet and simple- 
hearted about it. Ward." 

It was very fine of her. Is there anything in the 
world so good as a good girl, anyAvay, except her 
mother ? But really these young people Avith their 
quick, uncompromising conclusions, based on the pure 
right of the thing, apart from all the questions of 
policy and expediency Avhich bother our older heads, 
often make me berate myself as a time-serving schemer, 
a kind of a Machiavelli in a small AA^ay, you knoAV. 
The only trouble about them is, they are so tremen- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


67 


dously hard in their judgments of the rest of the 
world.’^ 

^^Yes. Lois is that too. She is absurdly intol- 
erant, for instance, of this Mrs. Parry. Oh, if you 
are not up to her standard, you may as well abandon 
the field entirely.’’ And the father and mother were 
laughing merrily when Lois came into the room, 
asking if she might please know what was so funny. 

Your mother was only remarking, my dear,” re- 
sponded her father, that you have ^ ihe defects of 
your qualities.’ ” 


CHAPTER VI. 


“New hopes to open in the sun, 

New efforts worth the will, 

Or tasks with yesterday begun 
More bravely to fulfill.” 

— Chambers' Journal. 

T he parents of Rachel Barchet were poor, un- 
educated, rude in manners and speech. Her 
early recollections went back to a small, dingy house 
in an obscure, thinly settled township of northern 
New England ; to an unpainted schoolhouse on a bare 
hillside among rocks and mullein stalks ; to herself, 
a barefooted, uncouth girl, in a faded calico gown, 
with a shock ” of rough, black hair. 

When she was fourteen years old, an accident 
occurred which changed the whole course of her life 
Riding a young horse one day, it took sudden fright — 
at what was never known — and the girl was thrown 
violently, injuring her spine. As a result, a few 
weeks later she was driven, lying on a mattress, in an 
open, springless wagon, twenty miles over a stony 
road to Montpelier. Here she was taken to a hos- 
pital, the only one in that part of the State in those 
68 


A LOYAL HEART. 


69 


days. She endured the journey without a groan, 
although she could not allude to it in after years 
without growing white, and when they came to take 
her from the wagon at the hospital, they found her 
unconscious. 

Her father came in to see her the next morning. 
He shook hands with her, bade her good-bye, and 
started home again with his wagon box filled with 
groceries this time, a store for months to come. For 
six months Kachel did not see him again. He wrote 
to her twice in that time, and at the end of it he came 
to Montpelier, bringing her mother. 

Rachel did not remember much about the visit, 
except that she was rather glad when the time came 
for them to go home again. There did not seem to 
be much to say. She was improving, and they were 
glad of that, no doubt, although they did not say so, 
and she did not expect them to. Such an expression 
would have seemed unduly demonstrative in the Bar- 
chet family circle. At the end of a year Rachel sent 
a letter to her father, in which she told him that she 
was nearly as well as ever, and added concisely : 

“ I am not coming home again. I shall work in the hos- 
pital for my board and clothes. Good-bye. From your 
daughter “Rachel.” 


70 


A LOYAL HEART. 


There were other children older. Rachel had always 
been considered the most unpromising child in the 
family ; her recovery might not be lasting. All the 
work she could do would not pay for the trouble she 
might cause if her spine should prove to be per- 
manently weakened. Moreover, at the hospital she 
would be in the way of receiving better care and 
medical treatment, if they were needed, than she 
could possibly get at home. All these considerations 
united in causing the silence which followed Racheks 
letter, and which gave consent. 

When, a few months later, Nathan Barchet again 
visited Montpelier, he had another conversation with 
Rachel, not briefer or dryer than former ones had 
been, in which he told her what was the amount of 
money he had paid for her expenses at the hospital, 
adding that when she was able to earn wages she 
might pay it back in instalments. To this Rachel 
assented as a matter of course, and indeed with a 
secret satisfaction in perceiving that when that debt 
was discharged she would be free from any further 
obligation to her family, for a new ambition was 
stirring in her vigorous young mind. 

In the long months in which she was confined to 
her bed in the hospital ward, Rachel had attracted 


A LOYAL HEART. 


71 


the attention and awakened the interest of the physi- 
cians and nurses, not only by the fortitude with which 
she endured pain, but by the mental energy which 
she developed in the midst of her sufferings. Thrown 
for the first time in her life among people of educa- 
tion, she became suddenly aware of a new world — 
that of intellectual achievement. At first it seemed 
only an enchanted realm impossible to enter, and then 
one day came the quick, thrilling perception that the 
power to enter was in herself if she could use it. For 
days she hardly spoke to those about her, hardly knew 
the pain she suffered, lying with a strangely absorbed 
expression, working out her problem. 

Then, one morning, the nurse found her with a 
brightened face and clear look. She had reached a 
definite, practical conclusion; a simple step, but it 
was on the way to the world she meant to conquer. 

I want something to-day,^^ she said. 

What is it ? asked the nurse surprised. Kachel 
had so far asked no favors or privileges. 

I wish you would get me an arithmetic and a 
speller.’^ 

What do you want of them, child ? asked the 
nurse good-humoredly. She liked the girFs straight- 
forward ways. 


72 


A LOYAL HEABT. 


I want to study my lessons. If you could get 
a geography too, I wish you would. I mean borrow 
it. I haven’t any money to pay for books,” she 
added, with the caution that comes of poverty. 

You can’t study when you’re in this state. Think 
of the pain you had all last week.” 

When I can, I can, I suppose,” quoted Eachel 
briefly, and when I can’t, I can stop.” 

The nurse smiled, and wondered at the spirit of 
the child. 

Better wait till you get better,” she said. There’s 
time enough.” 

When I get better I shall have to go to work. 
This is the best time I shall have to study.” 

This ended the discussion, but the nurse spoke to 
the head physician of Eachel’s desire, and after an 
unwontedly careful examination of the condition of 
her spine, on the following day lie said to her : 

So you want to study your lessons ? ” 

'‘Yes, sir.” 

" If I bring you some books will you promise me 
to use them only fifteen minutes at a time ? ” 

" Yes, sir. Can I have a slate ? ” 

" No, that is too heavy for you to handle. You 
will have to do your arithmetic on paper.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 73 

The doctor saw that a shadow passed over her face, 
and he added : 

Well, what^s the matter now?^^ 

Doesn’t paper cost too much ? ” 

Don’t worry about the expense, Rachel Barchet.” 
And he left her, reflecting with some dismay on the 
economy to which this girl must have been accustomed 
to x>roduce such a scruple as that. 

So the books came, and day after day, through all 
her pain, Rachel worked over them with a simple, 
unconscious fidelity which the doctor called Spartan. 
He watched her with increasing interest, perceiving 
her unusual capacity and the intellectual awakening 
which had come to her. Gradually, as her physical 
condition improved, he added books from his own 
library to her little store, — a volume or two of history 
and science, then Shakespeare, Scott, and Whittier, 
enjoying her keen appreciation and the childish ndiveU 
of her comments. 

As soon as she was able, Rachel began to work in 
the hospital as an attendant upon the nurses, and later 
as a nurse, when she earned good wages. She re- 
mained in Montpelier until she had paid back to her 
father the expenses of her illness with interest. Then, 
sound in body, stout in heart, and dauntless in spirit. 


74 


A LOYAL HEART. 


she began the direct work of acquiring the education 
for which she longed. Through all her succeeding 
struggles, her friend the physician stood by her, glory- 
ing in her courage, ready with money to lend, and 
direction and influence to give, to the extent of his 
ability, which was not small. 

The academy passed, two years of teaching followed, 
during which Rachel lodged in an attic chamber, and 
lived, so her friend the physician said, on bird seed. 
By some means she saved enough money to cover the 
first half of a course of study in college ; for the second 
half she borrowed 

’ She came to Exeter directly after graduating from 
college to a position in the High Scliool, some years 
before our story opens. She brought with her a letter 
of introduction to Mr. Fleming from the Montpelier 
physician, — her fairy godfather^’ she called him. 
She was at this time a woman of twenty-seven, of 
striking appearance and strongly impressive person- 
ality. Mrs. Fleming was immediately drawn to her, 
and they became fast friends, Rachel making her home 
with the Flemings for a time. In those years there 
were a good many corners in her character which had 
not been rounded ofP, — little social roughnesses and 
some ingrained hardness. Mrs. Fleming’s influence 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


75 


was, perhaps, the most important of all the varied, 
personal forces which helped to shape Eachel Barchet 
to the noble and symmetrical womanhood which 
crowned her mature life. She supplied what Eachel 
needed most, — tact, tenderness, fine perceptions ; above 
all, she drew her to a close relation to the invisible 
things of God, which had ^^all her hurrying life 
escaped her.^^ 

Tha years in Exeter had been good years for Eachel 
Barchet. She won her way, not by social shifts and 
contrivances, but by the force of her commanding 
mind and character, to a position of great influence. 
Indifferent to fashionable society, she touched it only 
at certain points where it sought her in her intellectual 
or charitable work, but her name was one to conjure 
by^^ among all classes, humble or aristocratic. She 
had been rapidly advanced to the position of lady 
principal of the High School. Her income was good ; 
she lived pleasantly, traveled widely, and worked 
incessantly. Her father having died, and the family 
being scattered, Eachel had sent for her mother, and 
she was now duly established in the pretty little house 
which had become Eachels home. 

Among the many families in which Eachel Barchet 
was a frequent and favorite guest was that of the 


76 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Romeyns. John Romeyn had been her pupil in the 
High School, and respected and admired her pro- 
foundly. At his suggestion she had been urgently 
solicited to give his sister Rose private lessons, as the 
girl never seemed to adapt herself kindly to the 
various schools to which she had been sent. These 
lessons had been continued with excellent results until 
within a year of our story’s opening, when a sudden 
whim impelled Mrs. Romeyn to interrupt the arrange- 
ment and send Rose to a fashionable boarding school 
in New York. John Romeyn protested as much as 
he thought wise, but in vain. His father was averse 
to making the change ; he had the highest regard for 
Miss Barchet and for her opinions and methods 
regarding the education of girls; but Mrs. Romeyn 
stood her ground. 

“And he was old and she was young, 

And so she had her way.’ ’ 

Miss Barchet had no personal feeling of grievance 
or regret in this change. It had been difficult for her 
to give the time that Rose needed, and she perfectly 
understood the self-will and fickleness of its mistress 
which made perpetual discord under the Romeyn roof. 
Still, she deplored the change for Rose to the life of 


A LOYAL HEART. 


77 


a fashionable French boarding school, at the most 
impressible age, without fixed habits of thought, 
strong intellectual bent or religious purpose, and 
having that most doubtful of blessings, the endow- 
ment of remarkable beauty of face and form. She 
kept her eye and her hand upon the girl so far as 
possible, and sought to preserve unbroken between 
them the relation of sympathy and affection which had 
been formed. As for Mrs. Forney n. Miss Barchet 
had always felt that she was antagonistic to her influ- 
ence over Bose, fearing that she would inspire the 
girl with her own ideas, decidedly advanced and 
democratic in that lady’s opinion ; hence there was 
nothing surprising in this movement on her part. 

It is a month or more after the day of Ros3 
Romeyn’s visit to Lois Fleming, and we find Miss 
Barchet in her usual dress uniform,” as she called 
it, of plain black silk, attending an afternoon read- 
ing ” at the house of Mrs. Randolph Randolph. The 
reading over, — it had been from Tennyson’s Deme- 
ter,” — tiny cups of coffee were passed, and the ladies 
stood or moved about in the pleasant parlors, con- 
versing in well-modulated voices on well-selected 
themes. Mrs. Randolph Randolph belonged to Exe- 
ter’s inner charmed circle, into which many doubtless 


78 


A LOYAL HEART. 


tried to enter and could not. Miss Barchet was 
thinking of this as she turned from one to another, 
thinking also how very little many of these women 
knew of the subjects on which they conversed, and 
how pitiful the attempt at caste in America must 
always seem, when she caught a glimpse of a particu- 
larly successful bonnet, and heard a familiar voice, 
saying ; 

“ After all, you know, there is nothing quite like 
Browning.^^ 

Mrs. Parry ! exclaimed Miss Barchet under her 
breath, greatly surprised. ‘^How did she come in 
here ? How glad I am to have her have so great a 
pleasure.’^ 

She moved along to Mrs. Parry’s side, and stood 
ready to speak with her when she was disengaged. 
It was only a moment before the lady to whom she 
was speaking moved on, and Miss Barchet, noting 
the little, hopeful, and yet half-anxious smile with 
which Mrs. Parry awaited another acquaintance, held 
out her hand with a cordial word. 

“ Oh, Miss Barchet, how glad I am to see you ! 
Of course you would be here, and yet I had not 
thought of it.” 

Mrs. Parry’s unreserved pleasure in finding some 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 79 

one whom she could fairly claim as a personal friend 
seemed really pathetic to Miss Barchet. 

Hasn’t it been charming ? ” Mrs. Parry went on, 
blithely, wondering inwardly as she talked how it 
^vas that Miss Barchet contrived to look distinguished 
in those commonplace things she wore. Isn’t Pro- 
fessor Ely a delightful reader ? You know, this inter- 
pretative reading is so much more to my taste than 
the elocutionary style. I should like to hear him 
read from Browning. Isn’t Mrs. Randolph lovely ? 
I suppose you know her well. She was at our literary 
entertainment last Christmas, you know.” 

^^Oh, by the way,” remarked Miss Barchet, 
thought that you were to repeat that programme for 
the benefit of the Orphan Asylum.” 

There was some talk about it, but it fell through. 
Your particular friend, Lois Fleming, refused to take 
her part again, for some reason a little too fine spun 
and attenuated for my comprehension. She was our 
great success, you know, and we could hardly do it 
without her. She is an enigma to me, anyway. 
Can’t you explain her ? ” 

Lois has her own ideas,” Miss Barchet was say- 
ing, when she was interrupted by a very slender hand 
in a perfect glove held out in greeting by a lady in a 


80 


A LOYAL HEART. 


dark silk gown, which Miss Barchet did not in the 
least notice, but which Mrs. Parry shrewdly pro- 
nounced Worth on the instant. This lady had a 
pale, oval face, heavy-lidded gray eyes, and a peculiar 
hauteur of expression. 

Good-afternoon, Mrs. Bomeyn.’^ 

BacheFs hand touched the cold finger tips for a 
second ; her strong, sincere eyes met the armed neu- 
trality in the other’s look with their own indomi- 
table kindliness. 

She introduced Mrs. Parry, whose inner flutter of 
delight at seeing, and possibly conquering, one more 
Bomeyn only showed itself in a slight access of gentle 
dignity. 

Mrs. Bomeyn measured her carelessly with the 
calm, gray eyes. 

Mrs. James Parry, did you say ? The name is 
not familiar. You are a newcomer in Exeter, I dare 
say.” 

Mrs. Parry was about to improve her opportunity 
for giving a good reason for the hope that was in her 
that she should not long remain a stranger, but Mrs. 
Bomeyn turned back to Miss Barchet to say a few 
words about Bose, whose Easter vacation was near at 
hand, and so passed on. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


81 


Mr8. Parry’s cheeks flushed delicately. It was not 
pleasant to be snubbed. She slipped away quietly to 
a wall-flower acquaintance whom she had been sav- 
ing up ” against a time of need. 

As well put her in here as anywhere,” she thought, 
grateful for her presence now, although she had always 
counted her an unmitigated bore hitherto. 

Rachel Barchet set down her fragile coffee cup and 
went to her hostess to say good-bye as quietly as she 
could, for it was early. It was, however, generally 
expected that Miss Barchet would come late and leave 
early. She was a woman of affairs rather than of 
society. 

In the dressing room she stood, putting on her 
cloak alone, when she heard a little exclamation 
behind her, and turning, saw Mrs. Romeyn, who had 
entered the room, and now stood leaning upon a chair, 
her face paler than its wont, and wearing an expres- 
sion of suffering and alarm 

Rachel stepped to her side, asking if she was ill. 

^^I am in great distress,” Mrs. Romeyn replied, 
with difficulty. I have felt wretchedly all day, and 
since I came here this pain has come at intervals. It 
is terribly severe ; I feel as if it was taking my life, 
almost.” 

F 


82 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Rachel assisted her to put on her outside garments 
and accompanied her to her carriage. Having entered 
it, Mrs. Romeyn leaned back upon the cushioned seat, 
her face so ashen in its pallor that Rachel was 
seriously alarmed. 

Shall I go with you ? she asked. 

Mrs. Romeyn nodded, looking almost imploringly 
in her face, and stretching out her hand. Look and 
gesture differed widely from those with which Rachel 
had been greeted half an hour before, but she her- 
self did not think of that as she took her seat in 
the carriage beside her and watched the face, usually 
so proud in its composure, now altered in every line. 


CHAPTER VII. 


“ So close is glory to our dust, 

So near is God to man, — 

When duty whispers low, ‘Thou must,’ 

The youth replies, ‘ I can.’ ” 

— Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

^ ^ T) LEASE look at the cake, Louise.” 

^ Yes’m. I will, ma’am. One loaf is just 
beautiful, and the other is trying to do its best, but it 
has jumped up a little at one end, and the other end 
looked depressed, — don’t you know? — and quite a 
little too brown.” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” 

Never mind ; don’t you come. I’ll turn it and 
shut off the drafts. It smells awfully good, anyway.” 

‘^Louise,” — this was a different voice, a lighter, 
weaker one, — put a piece of paper over the cake. 
Don’t let it touch the cake itself.” 

You take care of yourself. Corny Roberts. This 
is my cake and if it’s dough it will be my dough — 
ra, mi, fa, sol, la, si, dough ! ” And Louise Roberts 

sang out the scale ending in a clear ripple of laughter. 

83 


84 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


She wore a blue print dress and a blue gingham apron ; 
her round arms were bare to the elbow, and she 
looked altogether as housewifely as possible, and 
quite as pretty as the bailiff’s daughter of Islington 
in all her glory of pink brocade and satin petticoat. 

The kitchen was as clean as soap and water could 
make it ; the table scoured white ; the stove polished 
black; the sunshine streaming in through some 
blossoming geraniums. 

Louise stood for a moment in the door, looking 
into the room where her mother sat beside a window 
sewing. 

Isn’t that nearly done, mamma?” she asked, 
taking down her sleeves and shaking a little flour 
from her hands as she spoke. For I shall be ready 
for it as soon as the cake comes out of the oven. It 
is nearly three now, and I want to be ready when Lois 
comes.” 

I’ll see to the cake. Here, take your dress, — it’s 
done, — and go up stairs and put it on.” 

Oh, thanks ! What a beautiful pussy you are, 
you are !” And Louise snatched up her gown, which 
had been undergoing repairs, and vanished through 
the hall door. 

It was a small house where Mrs. Roberts lived with 


A LOYAL HEART. 


85 


her two daughters, simple and unpretentious, within 
and without, but the room where Cornelia Roberts, 
Louise’s older sister, was lying this afternoon, had a 
peculiarly attractive character. There was thorough- 
going good cheer that spoke from the pretty wall 
paper, the bright tints of the ingrain carpet, the open 
stove, the many books, the comfortable homeliness of 
the sofas and chairs. There was a good print of the 
Sistine Madonna above the mantelpiece, and several 
clever sketches and water colors about on the walls. 
These were Cornelia’s work. Louise was busy with her 
teaching every day but Saturday and Sunday, and all 
day long. She was the bread winner of the family. 
Cornelia had always undertaken her pictures with a 
view to selling them, but as those which did not sell 
reverted to the little home parlor, and as few had ever 
found a purchaser, the room had become well supplied. 

The brushes had not been touched now for many 
months. Cornelia had had a severe illness and it had 
left her strangely weak. Her strength was always 
coming back, only someway it had not come yet. 
There was not much pain to bear except at times, only 
the weariness and restlessness of the long hours of 
waiting. 

Cornelia was not in the least like Louise. She had 


86 


A LOYAL HEART. 


black hair and eyebrows and large, shining brown 
eyes. She was very quiet in her way, and exceed- 
ingly proud of her sister^s bright and cunning ways. 
Louise insisted that Cornelia should wear red wrappers 
to make a patch of bright color in the room and keep 
herself and the rest of the family cheerful. The deep 
currant color of her gown was very becoming, and she 
looked very comfortable, lying among big, colored 
cushions on the old-fashioned sofa, with a great tiger 
house cat curled up at her feet, and some new books 
and magazines on a table beside her. It was so 
that her friends always found her. When the time 
came that the suffering and weakness were too much 
for the sofa and the cat and the magazines, then she 
disappeared into a quiet room beyond the bright little 
parlor, and bore her pain with sweetest patience, even 
when it was hardest to bear. She did not like to have 
it talked about, and talking was not Mrs. Roberts’ 
way. So Corny’s best friends even did not know all 
that these vanishings,” as she herself called them, 
meant. They only knew that she seemed to return 
to her place on the sofa each time a little more shadowy, 
but with the old smile and the same shining eyes. 

Just as the clock struck three, the door bell rang. 
Louise came flying down to the door. Corny smiled 


A LOYAL HEART. 


87 


happily when she heard Lois Fleming’s voice. How 
gay and merry they were together ! There was no one 
of all the girls so dear as Lois ! It took a few min- 
utes for her to lay aside hat and jacket and gloves, 
and then she came in, carrying a handful of pink 
carnations, which she gave to Corny, with kisses on 
brow and lips, sitting on the edge of the sofa. 

Louise brought a vase, and the flowers were put on 
Corny’s little table with her books and tiny work- 
basket. 

How are you, Lou ? ” Lois asked, as Louise stood 
now for a moment by the table. I haven’t seen you 
for a week.” 

Hasn’t it been interminable ? I’ve been a very 
naughty girl ; I tore my dress and burned my cake 
and broke a saucer.” 

Yes,” interrupted Corny, and swept the parlor 
and bedroom and dusted them, and got dinner and 
washed the dishes, and did all the other reprehensible 
things you can think of.” 

Hush, mother of Gracchi ! ” cried Louise. But 
I admit that I’m tired. Take this arm chair, Lois, 
and I’ll have the old original.” And she curled up 
as comfortably as the cat in an old-fashioned hair- 
cloth covered rocking chair of unusual size. 


88 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Is it to be learning to-day, Lois, or literature or 
levity? There are three degrees, you know, to these 
Saturday afternoons.” 

^^Let^s begin with levity and shade through to 
learning.” 

You’re safe to begin with levity while Lou is 
around,” commented Corny, adding : I wish Lois 
would go on translating ^ Barfassele ’ to me while Lou 
is getting rested. I can’t get on with it in the least 
as you do, Lois.” 

Lois went over to the low bookshelves which filled 
one side of the room and found the volume of Auer- 
bach, from which she had often read to Corny. 

You know how I love it, Corny. That is why 
you ask me.” And Lois forthwith began to read 
where Amrei is tending the geese on the ‘^Holder- 
wasen.” Lois was a good German scholar, and added 
to this, she possessed a remarkably swift insight for 
all poetic meaning and a rare gift of expression. 
These qualities gave her the ability to read German 
aloud into English accurately and well and with very 
little hesitation. Corny Koberts thought the German 
flavor seemed far fresher, far more itself, than in 
formal, printed translations, and Lois spent many 
hours in reading to her on this wise. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


89 


She read on for an hour and more. They were all 
familiar with the exquisite little story, but it had cast 
its spell anew over them, the mingling of homely 
peasant sturdiness and folk lore with delicate fancy 
and spiritual perception, and the whole so thoroughly, 
deliciously human. 

They were interrupted by the ringing of the door 
bell. Louise went to the door and returned wdth a 
note for Lois. 

Walter is in the hall,” she said, looking a little 
anxious and puzzled. 

Lois took the note and read it ; at first she seemed 
perplexed and greatly shocked, and then, with a quick 
consideration for the suspense of the other girls, she 
said : 

Don’t be frightened. It is no trouble at home. 
I cannot understand it really myself, but I shall have 
to go with Walter, anyway.” 

What does the note say, Lois ? ” asked Louise. 

It is from mother. It seems father has telephoned 
from the bank that Mrs. Homey n is in a very critical 
condition. I think from the way she writes that they 
fear she is near the end.” 

Did you know of her illness ? ” 

‘‘Yes. She was taken ill the first of the week, 


90 


A LOYAL HEART. 


suddenly. Miss Barchet told me of it, but we bad 
beard that sbe was better.^^ 

Louise bad brought Lois ber bat and jacket, and 
sbe was nearly ready to go. 

Now they bave telegraphed Bose, so they must 
be very much alarmed, and sbe has come.^^ 

^^But why do they send for. you, dear?’^ asked 
Corny. Have you to go to the Bomeyiis ? 

I suppose I must. Yes ; mother says, you see, 
^ You bad better go directly there from Mrs. Boberts’. 
Bose insists that you must come to ber at once, if 
possible.’ It seems so strange. I hardly know Bose, 
and yet in a way we do know one another. I can 
hardly understand ber sending for me, though, in a 
time like this.” And Lois pulled on her gloves with 
hands which trembled, while her face had grown pale. 

It is too hard for you, Lois,” cried Louise. I 
would not go.” 

Oh, Louise ! ” exclaimed her sister. 

Yes, you would, Lou,” said Lois. Then she bent 
and kissed Corny, with the whispered words : Please 
pray for me ; it is hard.” And so was gone. 

Walter, her younger brother, joined her at the door 
and walked to the street car with her. He could tell 
her little more than the note had contained. Mr. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


91 


Romeyn had driven to the bank in great agitation and 
had begged their father to send for Lois, to go imme- 
diately to Rose, who had only just arrived from New 
York. 

It was a ride of twenty minutes in the street car, 
then a windy walk of two blocks, and Lois reached 
the great stone gateway which was so familiar to her 
childhood. It looked gloomy and forbidding to her 
now, between the groups of sombre spruce and pine 
trees. The wind whistled shrilly through the leafless 
branches of the elms and birches as Lois walked slowly 
over the frozen gravel of the path. The house, 
hidden by the thick foliage in summer, stood out cold 
and bare now, with its broad front unbroken save by 
the great white Doric pillars which had always in- 
spired Lois with a kind of awe when she w^as a child. 
It was scarcely five o’clock, but a light shone out sud- 
denly from the hall window as she neared the house. 

What awaited her when she entered the house, so 
long and so coldly closed to her? What strange 
compulsion was it which brought her there now ? 

Death ! 

It was as if some one spoke the word in her ear. 
Lois trembled, and a sinking of heart almost over- 
came her, but she went in, up the broad stone steps. 


92 


A LOYAL HEART. 


between the tall blue jars which flanked the entrance, 
into the tiled vestibule, tinged with crimson light from 
within, and rang the bell. The door was immediately 
opened by a footman, whose grave face seemed to fore- 
tell a family calamity. 

Lois stepped into the great hall. The air was warm 
and fragrant with the odor from great jars of roses ; 
the light was rich and subdued ; their footsteps made 
no sound on the thick rugs. A strange sense of un- 
reality came over Lois. It was all a dream. She 
would awake in a moment ; that dark face before her 
would fade away ; some natural sound would break 
the hush that held the place ; she was not here — she 
was only dreaming ! 

Is this Miss Fleming ? ” 

The servant before her broke the silence. His voice 
was low, respectful, subdued. 

Lois bowed her head. She could not speak, but 
the dream was over. 

Miss Romeyn left word that you should please be 
so kind as to come up to her room. If you will pass 
up the stairs, please.’^ And the footman led the 
way. 

Above there was the same hush and silence. A 
maid in white cap and apron seemed waiting for Lois 


A LOYAL. HEART. 


93 


and conducted her without speaking to a door at the 
distant end of the hall. Here she knocked softly, and 
Hose herself appeared. She drew Lois into the room, 
kissed her in silence, and closed the door. 

Thank you for coming,^^ she said. Her voice was 
hoarse and unnatural. Lois sat down, but Rose walked 
incessantly up and down the room, with nervous, un- 
equal steps, her hands clasped behind her. She had not 
been in the house more than two hours and still wore 
her traveling dress. Her cloak and hat lay upon the 
bed, with gloves and veil as she had tossed them. A 
tray with untasted food stood upon a table. 

How is Mrs. Romeyn ? 

Lois asked the question quickly. Her own excite- 
ment was suddenly calmed at the sight of Rose’s 
intense agitation. She perceived that if she was to 
be of any use in this emergency it would be by steadi- 
ness and self-command. 

She is no better. I suppose you know that she 
is— dying,” And Rose shivered. Please stay with 
me. I must have you. Oh, it is dreadful ! Were 
you ever in the house — with — it before? I have 
never been.” 

Lois looked at her gravely, wondering at the sheer 
terror in her face. 


94 


A LOYAL HE ALT. 


‘‘ Please do not feel like this, E-ose/^ she said, 
gently. Death will not seem to you after a little as 
it does now. You are tired and unnerved, poor child, 
after your long journey. No wonder. Yes, I was 
with my little sister when she died, and I never felt 
God so near as then.’^ 

Eose looked at her as if she were speaking a strange 
language w^hose meaning she did not understand. 

Who is with her ? ” Lois asked, gently. 

^^The doctors and nurses, and poor papa, he is 
there.^^ 

You have been in ? 

^^No, no, Lois, — how could I? Nothing could 
persuade me to go. The mere thought makes me 
faint. Papa asked me to come, but I cannot. Oh, 
why must there be hours like this to live through ! 
And Eose sank upon the bed in utter, helpless 
wretchedness. 

Lois went and sat beside her, holding her hand 
and touching her hair gently. Outwardly she was 
quiet ; inwardly she was greatly amazed. Eose 
Eomeyn was not a child ; in years and stature and 
power she was a woman, and she was called now to 
meet a hard hour, such as comes in every life which 
finds maturity. But instead of meeting, she was 


A LOYAL HEART. 


95 


fleeing it. The sense of a burden to he home, a place 
to fill had apparently not touched her ; or if it had for 
an instant she had shaken it off. Her father was 
alone with outsiders in the room with death so near ; 
he had sent for her, she would not go to him — would 
not sit beside the one who had been called her mother 
all these past years, in the hour of her last need. How 
could one reach a point where it was natural to re- 
fuse a call like this? What were the processes? 
Lois found herself wondering. She had not wished 
to come to this house to-night ; she had shrunk from 
it for every reason, but not to have come would have 
been simply an impossibility, when she was needed. 
Lois had supposed every one would do the vSame. Why 
was Rose so different ? Was she, after all, only a 
child ? Had she never awakened to life in its serious 
aspects ? 

This was no time for long thinking. A new con- 
sideration had come upon Lois’ mind. 

Where are the little girls. Rose ? ” 

I don’t knoWi I have not seen them. I suppose 
the nurse has them somewhere.” 

Do they know, dear ? ” 

Rose shook her head half impatiently to indicate 
that she did not know. 


96 


A LOYAL HEART. 


May I go and find them ? I think they will 
want to see their mother, if they may, and it will be 
a help to your father. Rose, it seems very dreadful 
to me for you not to go to him now, when he needs 
you — and to herj^ 

Rose only hid her face deeper in the pillow like a 
rebellious child. 

Think, dear, what it is too fail your father in this 
hard, hard hour, when there is no other friend near 
to help him. You will never forgive yourself. Rose, 
go now ; the time is short ! ” 

Lois spoke sternly, roused to a sudden imperious- 
ness by the extremity of the moment. All the indig- 
nant protest of her nature against the childish coward- 
ice of Rose spoke in her voice and eyes. 

Rose sprang to her feet, startled at such a tone from 
the girl who had always seemed the gentlest person 
she knew. 

They were in strange contrast in that moment. 
Rose in the power of her superb physical beauty and 
strength, frightened, cowering, abject, in the presence 
of a demand upon her moral nature. Lois, slight, 
sensitive, fragile, as she was, controlling herself and 
the girl before her by the force of a pure and right- 
eous will. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


97 


For Rose obeyed her. With slow, reluctant feet, 
clinging fast to Lois, she passed down the hall to the 
door at which she would not even glance when she 
came into the house. Mr. Romeyn must have heard 
them approaching. The door stood ajar, but he him- 
self opened it. He had hardly seen Rose until now. 
He took her hand and drew her into the room. His 
face was pale and agitated. 

Shall I bring the children now ? ” Lois whispered. 

Yes. I want them,’^ he replied briefly; and Lois 
ran with noiseless feet to find them, remembering her 
way about the house, as if she had been in it only 
yesterday. 


Q 


CHAPTER YIII. 


“ The look, the air, that frets thy sight 
May be a token, that below 
The soul has closed in deadly fight 
With some infernal, fiery foe, 

Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace, 

And cast thee shuddering on thy face.” 

— Adelaide A. Proctor. 

D uring the evening, the following note Avas 
brought to Mrs. Fleming : 

“Mamma Dear: Mrs. Romeyn died at six o’clock. I 
believe she was unconscious at the last and did not suffer. 
Rose needs me, and I must stay with her to-night. I am so 
sorry for her. Help me to help her. 

“Lois.” 

Mrs. Fleming handed the note in silence to her 
husband. Mrs. Romeyn’s influence had been hostile 
to them ; it had brought a shadow into their lives for 
many years, but it Avas not in the nature of either of 
them to remember that now. They had never spoken 
ungently of her ; they thought of her noAv, perhaps, 
more tenderly than most of those Avhom she had called 

her friends; but they spoke most of Rose and the 

98 


A LOYAL HEART. 


99 


little daughters, and the changes which this sudden 
death would bring to them. Then, mother like, Mrs. 
Fleming thought of her child, called so strangely into 
that home in the hour of death. It would be a hard 
strain upon Lois, the mother knew, but she did not 
shrink from it for her. There came to her mind Lois^ 
own words, spoken a few weeks before : I want to 
do my work for people at first hand, — for the people 
themselves.” The work had come not in a way 
which Lois would have sought, but Mrs. Fleming 
believed she would do it. All night she watched and 
prayed, so keeping near in spirit to her child. 

Instead of remaining one night with Rose Romeyn, 
Lois spent a week with her, only returning home for 
an afternoon or evening, when Miss Barchet would 
take her place. 

They were strange days to Lois, coming into the 
stately solemnity of the Romeyn mansion fresh from the 
bright homeliness of Mrs. Roberts’ little house, where 
she was as much at home in the tidy kitchen, helping 
with common tasks, as anywhere. Here, the house- 
hold wheels were out of sight ; the servants came and 
went noiselessly ; the meals were gone through with 
with ponderous solemnity. Rose and the little girls 
were promptly arrayed in deepest mourning. On the 


100 


A LOYAI. HEART. 


third day the house was filled with guests, but still 
Kose clung to Lois and would not let her go. INIr. 
Romeyn too begged her to stay. 

You remind me of your mother, my dear,’^ he 
said, a half smile lighting his face, now so profoundly 
sad in its habitual expression, “ and I never knew a 
lovelier woman than she. It pleases me to see you 
here with Rose. Stay if you can.” 

There was some talk of sending a cable dispatch to 
John Romeyn who was traveling on the continent, 
but against this Rose protested with a vehemence 
which surprised Lois, and a letter was written instead. 

On the day of the funeral, every one who saw it 
was touched with the pathetic beauty of Rose as she 
stood in her close black gown and veil beside her 
father, a man of noble presence, with snow-white hair, 
and held by either hand the little sisters, Gladys and 
Augusta, also dressed in deepest black. 

She will be a beautiful mother to those children,” 
Lois heard one of the distant relatives say to another, 
touching her eyes gently with a black-bordered hand- 
kerchief. There was no heartrending or inordinate 
grief displayed on the occasion. 

Lois sighed. She knew how little motherliness 
was in Rose Romeyn’s heart toward the children. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


101 


There had been coldness and impatience manifested, 
but oh, so little love ! 

At the end of the week Lois came away. Mrs. 
Romeyn’s sister had come to remain several weeks. 
It was expected that she would help Rose in her plans 
for managing the house and children; and then there 
were all Mrs. Romeyn’s belongings to be looked over 
and placed in order. 

Manifestly, there was no longer a demand for Lois’ 
presence, and yet Rose was very loth to let her go. 

If you knew how I needed you !” she whispered, 
holding Lois by both hands. ^^But I’m glad you 
don’t.” 

They were standing on the landing of the great 
staircase; the rich light from the colored window 
above them fell upon Rose’s black gown and red gold 
hair. Below, in the hall. Miss Barchet was waiting 
for Lois. 

^^But, dear, you have Mrs. Massey now. I am 
sure she will be a comfort to you.” 

A comfort ! Lois Fleming, you know better. I 
should prefer a paper doll. You don’t know her, and 
you don’t understand me. It is not comfort that I 
want.’ 

Rose, what is it ? ” 


102 


A LOYAL HEART. 


For an instant an indefinable change seemed to 
come over the girl ; the strange hardness which Lois 
always felt in her seemed about to yield, her mouth 
grew gentle, and her eyes filled with tears. Lois held 
her breath, waiting for a word which should bring 
them heart to heart, but it was not spoken. But 
the habit of pride and reserve asserted itself. She 
only said, half lightly : 

My own way, if the truth were known, which is 
not to stay here, you may depend.” And so she 
kissed Lois good-bye. 

Miss Barchet and Lois walked side by side down 
the wide gravel walk. It was March still, but there 
had been a warm rain, and the air was soft and touched 
with a far, faint suggestion of spring. 

How good it is to smell the earth again ! ” said 
Miss Barchet. 

Good to-day, and better and best are coming. It 
has been my ^ winter of discontent,’ ” rejoined Lois, 
and I am glad it is over. I hope life does not keep 
on getting so difficult.” 

I hardly know,” returned Miss Barchet, gravely. 
I think you have a difficult problem just now. It 
is quite plain that if any one can give Rose the up- 
lift she needs it must be you.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


103 


If I only understood her.^^ 

She has changed so, Lois. There is a certain oon- 
straint about her now that is very painful. It means 
something, but what I cannot guess. I felt that 
change in her last winter. She seemed turning so 
widely from the good and high things in which I am 
sure she was interested at one time. Do you remem- 
ber my telling you that I believed you could do some- 
thing for her ? 

Yes. I remember everything that was spoken or 
done that night.’’ 

Now I am sure that was a ‘ leading.’ You and I 
believe in ^leadings,’ don’t we, Lois? I had been 
asking, you see, to be shown Avhat might help Eose, 
feeling sure that she needed something which she 
could not take from me. She asked me, quite of her 
own accord, to be introduced to you. I cannot tell 
you how glad I was. One girl can do so much for 
another. We who are older lose that prime power of 
perception and sympathy, and try to make it up by 
preaching.” 

^^Not always, Eachel. You understand me now 
better than I understand myself. You use to tell me 
years ago, I know, that I was hard-hearted.” 

Lois ! did I really ? ” 


104 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Yes. I thought it calumny, of course, at the 
time, but this last week I found out that you were 
right.^^ 

How?^^ 

Why, Rachel, in the way I have felt about Mrs. 
Romeyn. You cannot think how I have hated my- 
self, but in my heart of hearts I did not forgive her 
even when she was dead, for the way she treated my 
father. Can you imagine being like that ? 

I am afraid I can, but it does not seem like you.^^ 

I struggled hard with myself, but in me there was 
no help. I could not of myself grow gentle and 
loving toward the thought of her, not even when I 
saw her face at the last, you know, and tried to think 
what death meant. 

It is all right now, Rachel,” Lois continued, after 
a little silence. I have not to be so small and bad 
forever, I am thankful to say ; but God sent what I 
needed through a very little, outward thing, perhaps 
that I might so be made to see how powerless I am 
in myself.” 

“ Yes, — to add one cubit unto one’s stature is not 
reached spiritually of one’s self any more than bodily. 
It comes, though, dear child, if God have his way with 
us.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


105 


“ This is what came, Rachel. It was a strange 
little thing, too ; I hardly understand it yet. The even- 
ing after the burial, Mr. Romeyn called me into his 
little inner library, and talked very tenderly of his wife. 
I wondered all the time at his choosing me to talk 
with at such a time. And then, do you know, he 
said he had something he wanted me to see ; that 
perhaps, seeing it, I would understand her better. I 
believe he must have been thinking all the time of 
the old trouble, don’t you think so ? ” 

It seems most reasonable.” 

He took out of his desk a Bible which had been 
his wife’s, and showed me what he had never seen 
himself until since her death. In the book of Kings 
two leaves had been carefully tied together with fine 
white ribbon at the edges. Opening them he showed 
me inside the words heavily underlined, ^ Is it well with 
the child f And she answered, It is welV You know 
how dignified and undemonstrative Mr. Romeyn is, 
but when he pointed those words out to me the tears 
dropped on the page. ^ The little boy, you know, Avho 
died,’ he said, brokenly, and then took up a small 
white envelope which lay enclosed between the leaves. 
Inside was a curl of soft fair hair, and that great man 
held it in his hand, oh, so tenderly, Rachel, and 


106 


A LOYAL HEART. 


showed me what was written on the envelope. That 
conquered me.^’ 

What was it ? ’’ 

Just the date, the name Baby Harold, and the 
words, 1 shall go to him, but he will not return to 
me.’ ” 

Lois paused for a little, and continued : 

How it rebuked my small, fixed conception that 
this woman, who could not touch me, even in death, 
must be heartless, because of her failure to appreciate 
my father ! I seemed the heartless one. Shall I ever 
be large enough not to have all my opinions formed 
by petty, personal causes ? ” 

hope you will, Lois, but very many people 
never are. But I will give you this for comfort ; you 
will find yourself growing less intolerant as you grow 
older, if you really mature with the years, not wither 
as some people do. When we are young it is not easy 
for us to see the fine shadings of motive and character. 
Men and women are all bad to us, or all good. You 
know George Eliot’s clever remark as to its being so 
much easier to call a thing white or black than to dis- 
tinguish the particular shade of brown which it may 
really be.” 

That is very good.” 


A JLOYAL HEAET. 


107 


Yes, try to remember it when you next attempt 
to describe Mrs. James Parry ! ” 

You are too bad ! I never said 1 did not like 
Mrs. Parry. I am going now. Good-bye. Oh, I 
wanted to ask you about your mother. Is she 
better ? ” 

^^Yes, she is almost as well as ever, but she is 
a little bit dismal. I wish you wanted to come around 
my way, and relieve her a little over a cup of five 
o’clock tea.” 

Lois stood irresolute. 

I would like to. You know I am very fond of 
your mother, — she always braces me up mentally and 
morally, — but I also very much want to see mine.” 

It wouldn’t delay you long. I think mother 
would do you good just now. She would be like a 
good whiff of pennyroyal after too much attar of 
rose ! ” 

Lois laughed, and turned the corner with Miss 
Barchet. In a few moments they reached a small 
brick cottage, with odd little gables and corners and 
cozy windows^ and came into a pleasant room full of 
books, having a broad library table covered with 
magazines in the centre. There was a glowing fire 
of soft coal in the chimney, and at one side of it, in a 


108 


A LOYAL HEART. 


very straight-backed chair, sat an old lady, knitting 
resolutely upon a gray woollen stocking. This was 
Mrs. Barchet. She returned Lois’ cordial greeting 
a little stiffly, but with a certain relaxing of the 
features, which denoted pleasure, if it did not closely 
resemble a smile. 

Mrs. Barchet had a square face and a high fore- 
head ; her gray hair was drawn back from her temples 
with uncompromising severity. She had a firmly 
closed mouth and keen gray eyes. Over her plain 
black gown she wore a long apron of blue-checked 
gingham. 

Why, Mother Barchet,” exclaimed Rachel, as she 
stood drawing off her gloves and surveying her mother 
critically, whatever is the reason that you wear that 
gingham apron at this time in the afternoon ? Here 
I have brought home a visitor. Think how mortified 
lam!” 

can’t help it,” replied Mrs. Barchet, knitting 
away unmoved. ain’t agoin’ to dress up in no 
white aprons week days. Sundays it’ll do very well. 
This gingham cost a shillin’ a yard. It’s a good 
piece; you can feel and see.” And she turned to 
Lois, holding out the apron’s hem for her to inspect. 

I never see a better piece of gingham for the money.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


109 


It’s pretty too,” responded Lois, who had drawn 
a little rocking chair up to the old lady’s side. 

I don’t know’s there’s anything very pretty about 
it,” replied Mrs. Barchet, as if this were a wholly 
new idea, “ but it don’t show dirt, and blue’s the best 
color to wear.” 

Rachel laughed, as she always did, at her mother’s 
purely practical way of looking at things, and went 
out to arrange for tea. 

A few minutes later, a round table was drawn up 
before the fire, with pretty cups and a little copper 
teakettle. Mrs. Barchet, with some reluctance, put 
away her stocking in the silk knitting bag, which she 
regarded as a compromise with sinful luxury, but 
used to please Rachel, who had given it to her, and 
Rachel poured tea for them. Mrs. Barchet grew con- 
versational over her teacup, and asked them if they 
had been at Mr. Romeyn’s. 

How’s Rose gettin’ along with them children ? ” 
she asked, concisely. 

Both Rachel and Lois smiled. 

^^As far as I have observed, mother,” said Rachel, 
she can hardly be said to get along with them at all. 
She simply takes care of herself and lets them do the 
same.” 


no 


A LOYAL HEART. 


I’ll warrant you/’ Mrs. Barchet rejoined, sharply, 
she ain’t goin’ to trouble herself about them young 
ones. She’s got something else on her mind. You 
see if what I say ain’t so. She used to come here, 
learnin’ her lessons along of Rachel. I never thought 
she learned much, not as I could make out.” 

Why, mother,” cried Rachel, isn’t that pretty 
hard on me?” 

She was a nice, civil-spoken girl,” Mrs. Barchet 
went on, unheeding the interruption. ^^The worst 
thing I see about her was, she’s too han’some. When 
they’re han’some like that, there’s always a string of 
fellers trailin’ after them, and perhaps they ain’t so 
much to blame for it, but it spoils ’em unless they’ve 
got a good deal to ’em; but the Romeyn girl has, 
unless I miss my guess.” 

I have never heard of Rose having love affairs,” 
said Rachel ; have you, Lois ? ” 

Lois replied in the negative. 

“ She ain’t sure to put it iii the papers,” commented 
Mrs. Barchet, with her somewhat grim humor, but 
you wait awhile and see. Ten to one she’ll pick out 
the poorest one of the lot; they gen’rally do when 
they’ve got too many to choose from. I know all 
about it, Miss Fleming; one of my girls was han’- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Ill 


some, — ’twa’n’t Rachel, — and she give me more trouble 
than all the rest put together/^ 

^^Rose will come out all right, mother,^^ said Rachel, 
quietly. 

Lois had risen now to go. 

What would be the best thing that could happen 
to Rose, Mrs. Barchet?’^ she asked, looking down 
into the old lady’s shrewd, sensible face. She had 
great confidence in the keen penetration of her per- 
ceptions, although there was always a harshness in 
her way of expressing herself which repelled many 
people. 

Mrs. Barchet, looking up, met the earnestness of 
Lois’ eyes bent upon her. She was silent for a mo- 
ment, and then said, solemnly, touched to a different 
mood from any which Lois had ever seen in her 
before : 

The fire, and the whirlwind, and after that the 
still, small voice.” 

Lois stood silent a moment, and then, with brief 
leavetaking, came away. Out upon the street, she 
turned homeward with eager feet. 

Now for the best of all,” she said to herself, my 
own dear mother ! ” 


CHAPTEE IX. 


“ Oh, the little more, and how much it is ! 

And the little less, and what worlds away ! 

How a sound shall quicken content to bliss, 

Or a breath suspend the blood’s best play.” 

— Rohet't Browning. 

” Sure, they of many blessings should scatter blessings round.” 

— German Ballad. 


ULIA LEIGHTON, Mrs. James Parry’s younger 



^ sister, was walking in the park on an April 
morning with Ethel Parry by her side, a picturesque 
little figure in long blue cloak and quaint bonnet, 
below which fell soft flaxen hair to her waist. Miss 
Leighton was less noticeable in looks than her small 
niece. She was not 'petite and modish like her sister, 
Mrs, Parry. Her face and her figure in its plain 
flannel dress offered no salient points for description. 
Having passed her, one would straightway forget 
what manner of girl she was, perhaps recalling with 
an effort that her eyes were dark and rather pleasant, 
and that she had an intelligent but timid expression. 

On this particular morning Julia was tired. Ethel 


A LOYAL HEART. 


113 


was not as picturesque in her deeds as in her looks. 
She had been teasing to go to a candy store through- 
out the entire walk, and as confectionery had been 
absolutely forbidden her by the family physician, the 
conversation was growing monotonous, being some- 
what as follows : 

I think you’re just as mean as you can be ! I’m 
going to have some chocolate ! I don’t care ! ” 

Don’t be foolish, Ethel dear. Remember how 
frightfully ill you were only a month ago from eat- 
ing candy.” 

I don’t care if I was ! I like to be sick. I want 
to be sick. Mamma would never have got my new 
doll if T hadn’t been so sick. Come, I’m going, any- 
way ; I hate this stupid old park.” 

‘^Oh, no, darling, you don’t hate the park. I 
think it is lovely here this morning. See the dear 
little buds on the trees ; how fast they are swelling ; 
almost ready to burst into tiny green leaves ! And 
just see the crocuses in that bed, Ethel. Don’t you 
love them ? Auntie does.” 

“No, I don’t love them a bit. They’re not half 
so nice as buttercups.” 

“ Buttercups are pretty too, but they won’t come for 

ever so long yet, you know, and the crocuses are such 

H 


114 


A LOYAL HEART. 


brave little fellows to come up even while the snow is 
still here.^’ 

Oh, you stupid auntie ! I don’t mean that kind 
of buttercups. I mean candy buttercups, — Huyler’s 
buttercups. I want some, and I’m going to have 
them. Come ! ” 

At this point, Ethel took her stand firmly on the 
asphalt walk, tugging Miss Leighton with both hands, 
to draw her in the desired direction. 

This process having been repeated now half a dozen 
times, the morning with all its beauty having the 
languid quality of April, the pleasures and advantages 
of a spring-time walk began to lose their hold upon 
Miss Leighton. 

Again drawing upon the last reserves of her char- 
acter and intellect, all of which seemed to be drawn 
into requisition, she succeeded in once more reducing 
Ethel to short-lived submission, and they went on 
their way, Ethel sulky, her aunt tired and dis- 
spirited. 

It was not merely this morning’s experience which 
made Julia Leighton out of heart. Slie was only 
twenty-three, and it certainly should not have been 
the case, but she was, in truth, finding life in general 
a little tiresome. Life to her at present meant a good 


A LOYAL HEART. 


115 


deal of Ethel Parry. Perhaps this was the reason in 
part. And yet Julia was very fond of her niece, 
whose nursery governess she was at present in fact, 
though not in name. 

J ulia Leighton had been in Exeter for a little more 
than a year, but she was still as distinctly a stranger 
here as when she first came to Mrs. Parry^s. Un- 
doubtedly it was her own fault. Her sister was con- 
vinced of this, and frequently impressed her conviction 
upon Julia, but nevertheless it was depressing. She 
felt strangely alone, left out, and heart hungry. Of 
course, Laura (Mrs. Parry) was right ; she knew that 
she was uninteresting, stupid, commonplace ; she could 
not expect people to seek her out when she did not 
attract them, and then everybody was so busy. Laura 
had tried her best to introduce her to nice girls, and 
of course she had a few calls, all she ought to expect. 
Laura certainly could do no more ; she had enough to 
do in making her own social way without trying to 
drag along an uninteresting younger sister in her wake. 
Nod for anything would Julia have made Mrs. Parry's 
path onward to the heights of social life more 
difficult. It was not society that she cared for ; she 
was afraid of it. All she wanted was some one to 
care for her individually, if only a very little, — some 


116 


A LOYAL HEART. 


one in whom she could find love and sympathy and 
the fellowship which every girl needs. 

She had become acquainted, quite formally, but 
pleasantly, with the girls in the Literary Society, but 
since Christmas they had held no regular meetings, 
and although she met some of them occasionally, she 
did not feel that she knew them. Louise Roberts, 
with her bright, natural ways and warm heart, had 
shown her real kindness, and she had seen Cornelia 
in her place among the sofa pillows and had been 
drawn to her with all her starved heart, and had felt 
that here might be the soul for which she was longing. 
But Julia could not continue going there unless Louise 
called upon her occasionally, and Louise was the 
busiest girl of all her set, teaching and sewing and 
caring for Cornelia, and helping with the work in the 
happy little co-operative household. And besides 
and beyond all the rest, Louise was now in that posi- 
tion when, if ever, a girPs friends expect little of her, 
being what the Germans call a happy bride,’’ and 
we Americans engaged.” Hence, she too, had for 
months dropped out of Julia’s horizon. 

Julia was thinking of this as she walked on, under 
the faintly green branches of the elm trees, thinking, 
as far as was possible while continually interrupted 


A LOYAL HEART. 


117 


by EtheFs clearly expressed wishes — of how lovely it 
would be to know Corny Itoberts and look often into 
her sweet, shining eyes. She could help one to be 
good, Julia thought, and that meant to be contented 
with life as it was, even if one missed of love and 
sympathy, and the brightness and gayety that other 
girls had together. 

A young lady was coming down the path in Julia’s 
direction, a graceful, slender girl, dressed demurely 
in grey. There was something charming in her out- 
line, even in the distance ; the very way in which she 
walked told you that her foot was slender and finely 
arched and delicately shod. As she came nearer, J iilia’s 
heart gave a little bound of absolutely unreasonable 
joy. It was Lois Fleming. Of all the girls whom 
Julia liad met Lois was the star. She could not tell 
in what this superiority consisted, but she felt it, and 
regarded her with a wistful, longing admiration which 
would have been love had it dared. 

At least it was something to see her ! The April 
morning took on a sudden glory to Julia, touched by 
the sight of a person for whom she cared and for 
whose regard she secretly longed with all her hungry 
heart. Lois would stop perhaps a little and notice 
Ethel. Julia was glad of her prettiness if she was 


118 


A LOYAL HEART. 


naughty ! Then they would talk, and perhaps she 
would walk a little with Lois, since she was bound in 
no certain direction. Then she would go home 
with the feeling that the walk had been a brilliant 
success, that spring was not a failure, and that life 
was not tiresome. 

These thoughts filled the space before the two girls 
met. Then there was a bow, an almost careless smile, 
and brief ‘‘ good-morning,^^ from Lois, who did not 
heed the wistfulness of Julians face, and so passed on. 
She thought of her only as Mrs. James Parry’s sister, 
and necessarily a partner in that lady’s misdoings, 
upon which she, Lois, had already pronounced her 
young and unsparing judgment. 

A long quivering breath that had something like a 
sob in it escaped Julia’s lips. Her face grew wan and 
wearier than before, and the sky was dull and grey.” 

Come, dear, let us go home now, auntie is tired,” 
she said, in a toneless voice. 

Ethel, who was wise in her generation, looked up 
into her face surprised. 

What did that girl do to you. Aunt Julia?” she 
asked. You look as if she hurt you.” 

Maybe she did Ethel darling, just a little, but it 
wasn’t her fault.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


119 


Whose fault was it then ? ” 

Only my own, because I am such a stupid auntie. 
But you love me a little, don^t you, Ethel ? ” 

“ Yes,’^ somewhat reluctantly. I should love you 
more if you’d get me some candy.” And with this 
cold comfort Julia hastened home, sore in spirit and 
sick of heart. 

When she came into the house, Mrs. Parry, who 
was sitting before her carved desk in the library, clad 
in a dainty toilette of pale green caslimere, writing a 
correct little note of acceptance to a reception, looked 
up and remarked : 

Oh, it is you, is it ? Seems to me you did not 
stay out very long.” 

No, not very. It seemed a little hard to walk 
this morning.” 

You know, Julia,” with the faintest shade of re- 
proof in her tone, I am very anxious to keep Ethel 
outdoors all I possibly can. Dr. Mixer says it is very 
necessary for her. And we have so few pleasant days,” 
Mrs. Parry added pointedly, raising her voice as Julia 
was now on her way up stairs. 

Ethel lingered, hanging upon the back of her 
mother’s chair, and complaining that she had a 
horrid time, and that she hated to go to walk 


120 


A LOYAL HEART. 


with Aunt Julia. It was just as stupid as it could 
be.’^ 

Yes, I know, dear, but I am sure auntie tries to 
be very nice and pleasant to you. Now run right up 
stairs and stay until lunch is ready. Mamma is very 
busy, don’t you see ? ” 

Up in her own room, Julia laid aside her hat and 
jacket, and then, turning with a sudden impulse, 
locked her door. 

Now cry, if you must, and have done with it,” 
she said to herself, half in scorn ; and throwing herself 
on her bed, she gave way for a few moments to the 
utter weariness, the loneliness and depression which 
were mastering her. 

If only one single person in all the world cared 
for me ! ” she cried in her heart ; but there is not one, 
not even Laura. How cold her voice was to me when 
I came in ! She wanted us to stay away all the morn- 
ing. My presence is no pleasure to her ; it is only an 
interruption. It must be my own fault that people 
do not care for me. Lois Fleming is kind to every- 
body, but she looked at me this morning as if she dis- 
approved of me someway. I wonder, oh, I wonder 
why!” 

Poor Julia could not dream that the sins of her 


A LOYAL HEART. 


121 


pretty and popular sister were being visited upon her. 
To her mind if she ever shone by any chance it was 
only with the light reflected from her sister, who was 
bright and winning and clever, and whom Julia most 
loyally loved. 

Meanwhile, Lois went on her way at peace with her 
self and all mankind, conscious that the spring was 
delicious ; conscious that it was a joy to be alive ; 
slightly conscious, perhaps, that the people she met 
showed by their glances that she herself was pleasant 
to look upon. 

She turned from the park into a wide, stately 
avenue, lined with tall trees and fine residences. She 
rang the bell at a handsome, old-fashioned brick house, 
and asked for Miss Patten. 

Good-morning, Lois ! exclaimed an animated 
voice above her, as she entered the hall, and Sara 
Patten herself appeared, running lightly down the 
stairs. 

I’m ever so glad to see you,” she said, kissing 
Lois, and leading her into a pleasant music room at 
the end of the hall. Let’s come in here where we 
can be by ourselves. It is lovely to see you, and, if 
you will allow me to say so, how sweet you look in 
your new spring gown ! ” 


122 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Do I indeed ? Of course, Idl allow you,” returned 
Lois, the color deepening in her cheeks. But, oh, 
Sara, you don’t know, if you haven’t been out, how 
wonderful the air is. Just a little enervating, you 
know, as it always is in these first spring days, but so 
full of fragrance and suggestion of all the sweet things 
that are coming.” 

^^All sweet things are coming to you, Lois, I 
imagine,” said Sara, peculiarly impressed as she spoke 
by her friend’s loveliness and the touch of joy and 
promise that seemed to rest upon her that morning. 

I don’t know any one who seems to me to get so 
much out of life as you do.” 

Then they spoke of the German books which Lois 
had come to bring to Sara, and of the others which 
she had come to borrow ; afterward they talked of 
Louise Roberts’ engagement to Gertrude Sayles’ 
brother, a senior in college, of how happy Louise was, 
and how worthy of her happiness. Miss Barchet was 
spoken of, and upon this Sara exclaimed : 

And that reminds me to ask you why you were not 
at the last meeting of the Indian Association? You 
used to come.’’ 

I know I did, but I hardly think I shall come any 
more.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


123 


But why not ? 

Oh, I don’t want to talk about it, Sara. You’ll 
think me priggish and conceited. It is just simply 
that I am out with all the popular charities and or- 
ganizations just now. I don’t like the way things are 
done nor the motives with which they are undertaken. 
I am going to try doing my little bit of work in the 
world by myself, — straight out from my own inner 
impulse, without mixing the little good I have with 
a lot of my own and other people’s pride and selfish- 
ness, and then calling it the Lord’s work.” 

Sara Patten looked at Lois through her glasses, 
smiling reflectively. She shook her head. 

^^Lois will have to go to heaven !” she said at last, 
in a droll little way of her own. This terrestrial 
ball and the folks who walk around on it aren’t good 
enough for her.” 

^^Sara !” protested Lois. You know that is not 
the way I feel in the least. It is only that I think 
we get to working for ourselves in these organizations 
more than for the objects we profess to work for. It 
is these little social axes that people come around to 
grind.” 

In short, it is Mrs. James Parry and her kind ” 

Yes. I confess it is.” 


124 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


Oh, well, Lois, you must remember that even 
Mrs. Parry has her uses.’^ 

‘^What a dreadful girl you are, Sara! That is 
worse than anything I ever said.’^ 

I think Mrs. Parry is extremely interesting. I 
glory in her courage. She is the pluckiest little woman 
I know, and I tell you that she will ^ arrive,^ as Brown- 
ing says when he means ^ get there.^ 

Lois laughed merrily. 

Yes, I think she will, and I admit that she is in- 
teresting, far more so than her sister. Miss Leighton. 
Do you know her at all ? 

No, not in. the least.’^ 

Do you want to ? ’’ 

Well, so far I have not felt an aching void which 
she alone could fill.’’ 

I met her this morning in the park. I don’t 
know when I have seen her before. She isn’t in the 
least like Mrs. Parry outwardly. Perhaps she isn’t 
inwardly, Sara.” 

Possibly.” 

She looked a little dreary, I thought.” 

Lois spoke thoughtfully, a shadow on the bright- 
ness of her face. Some strange inward compunction, 
held back until now, was rising to the surface of her 


A LOYAL HEART. 


125 


consciousness. But Sara’s reply dispelled it, for the 
time at least. 

Ah, you may depend that life with Mrs. Parry 
could not be dreamy ! She is intensely interested in 
too many things to let any one around her stagnate. 
I imagine Miss Leighton has a sufficiently lively 
time.” 


CHAPTER X. 


“ Her little motions when she spoke, 

The presence of an upright soul, 

The living light that from her broke, — 
It was the perfect whole. 

“A deed, a word, our careless rest, 

A simple thought, a common feeling, 
If God be present in the breast 
Has from him powers of healing.” 


— J. H. Perhiyis. 


E left Julia Leighton in her room, unhappy and 



» * in tears. She was not left long to the luxury 
of weeping alone, for a peremptory little hand soon 
assailed her door, panel and knob, and EthePs voice 
called : 

‘^Auntie, come down stairs quick. Hurry, hurry ! 
Somebody wants to see you.” 

Julia sprang to her feet, and beheld her image in 
the glass with a feeling akin to despair. Her hair 
was in a most unbecoming disorder, her cheeks unduly 
flushed and tear stained, her eyes red and swollen 
with crying. 

^^Oh, dear!” thought Julia, ^^what possesses any 


126 


• A LOYAL HEART. 


127 


one to cry when it makes such a perfect fright of her 
as it does of me ? ” 

She hastened to repair the ravages of grief as 
swiftly as might be, arranged her hair, and ran 
down stairs. 

Mrs. Parry met her in the hall. 

It is the Roberts girls. They are in a carriage, 
and want you to come out there for a minute. Mercy, 
Julia, how you look! What in the world is the 
matter ? 

Nothing, nothing at all/^ replied Julia, hurriedly, 
and escaped through the open front door, crossing the 
sidewalk to her friends, who were sitting in a low, 
open phaeton, awaiting her. 

Mrs. Parry turned back to the library with an 
impatient gesture. 

Julia is the strangest person,’’ she said to herself. 

What girl could have more to make her happy tliau 
she? I am sure our home is perfectly lovely, and 
Ethel is the dearest little thing. James is just as kind 
as he can be, and makes her perfectly welcome to a 
home with us. Everything is done for her that I can 
think of, and yet here she goes off alone and cries like 
a homesick schoolgirl ! Well, I can’t help it. I 
hate these mysterious crying spells. They show a 


128 


A LOYAL HEART. 


morbid, selfish disposition, and the less notice taken 
of them the better.^^ 

Thus did Mrs. Parry discharge herself of what 
might have been a burdensome responsibility, putting 
down, under the head of these crying spells,’^ the 
one sole occasion in the year when her sister had 
allowed the force of depressing circumstances to con- 
quer her uniform cheerfulness. 

Out under the sweet spring sky, with its help and 
healing, Julia was standing, her face illuminated with 
sudden joy, as she looked into Cornelia Roberts’ face. 

Yes, my dear,” Louise, who held the reins, was 
saying, this is the great event of the season, I can 
assure you. Corny has not been out of the house 
since last October. Please observe that her very first 
call is made on you.” 

I do appreciate it,” returned Julia, fighting back 
the provoking tears, which, having once gained the 
right of way, seemed determined to keep it. You 
can’t think how much it is to me. It was beautiful 
of you to think of coming.” 

‘^Of course we thought of you. Miss Leighton,” 
said Corny, gently. have felt so sorry that I 
could not visit you before. It seems to me it must 
be hard to come to live amon^ entire strangers.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


129 


It is — a little — sometimes/’ Julia returned, 
slightly staccato in her phrasing. If only the drive 
does not tire you too much, Miss Roberts.” 

Corny Roberts looked far more fragile and shadowy 
out in the free air and sunlight than she did lying on 
the sofa in the bright little parlor where Julia bad 
always seen her before. Something in her face 
alarmed Julia. It was too spiritual, too lovely. 
Louise, beside her, was in strong contrast, with her 
mischievous eyes, fresh color, and vigorous young 
frame. 

I think it is doing me good,” Corny answered, 
with her bright smile. Isn’t it nice that we could 
have this horse and phaeton ? They belong to Ger- 
trude Sayles, you know, and the horse is perfectly 
safe for Louise to drive.” 

I thought I recognized him, but I did not re- 
member that it was Miss Sayles’. I suppose you will 
have it often now ? Is it among the perquisites ? ” 
Julia was amazed at her own daring, but Louise 
was not by any means displeased, but grew very 
pretty with blushes and dimples, as she replied : 

Yes, this was the chief consideration. It was the 
thought of what I could do for Corny that induced 
me to sacrifice myself.” 

I 


130 


A LOYAL HEART. 


They all laughed at this unexpected bit of nonsense, 
Corny remarking that WilP^ would be pleased to 
hear of himself as ^^Auld Robin Grey’^; and the 
thought of the handsome young senior in this role 
was so droll to them all, that they fell into light- 
hearted laughter and merry bantering, which was on 
that day the very best medicine that Julia Leighton 
could have had. 

But Louise, who never forgot to watch her sister’s 
face with loving anxiety, well concealed though it 
was, saw that she was growing tired after a little, and 
said that they must drive on. 

Wait just a moment, Lou,” said Corny, I want 

to see if Miss Leighton ” 

Please say J ulia.” 

^^Tf Julia — thank you very much — will take tea 
with us Thursday evening. Hhve you any engage- 
ment to prevent ? I hope not.” 

It did not require much thinking on Julia’s part 
to demonstrate the fact that she was at liberty on 
Thursday evening. Her engagements were very few 
and very far between. This was the first time she 
had been invited to tea in such fashion since she came 
to Exeter. 

The invitation being accepted and the good-byes ” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


181 


exchanged, the girls drove on, leaving Julia to return 
to the house with a bright face, soothed in spirit, light 
of heart. After all, somebody thought of her; she 
was not clean forgotten.^^ No matter now if Lois 
Fleming did pass her by coldly, Louise Roberts cared 
enough to call upon her ; and Corny, who was dearer 
and lovelier than any one, had invited her to come and 
make her a visit. To have a private and personal 
pleasure to look forward to, something all her own, 
not to be merely included for necessity's sake in Laura’s 
invitations and regarded as an appendage, was a new 
sensation to Julia. 

An invitation to a quiet tea-drinking with two girls, 
an invalid and a school teacher, in a homely little 
house in an unfashionable street, would not have been 
exactly a matter for thrilling delight to many girls. 
No one suspected that it was something akin to this 
to Julia, least of all Mrs. Parry, who merely said when 
Julia mentioned the invitation to her : 

I suppose you will have to go, and maybe you 
will enjoy it. Louise Roberts is a very bright girl, 
and since she is engaged to Will Sayles she will be 
regarded as quite a person, although her family, you 
know, live in the plainest possible fashion, without a 
servant, and all that.” 


132 


A LOYAL HEART. 


J ulia was wise enough to attempt no reply. She 
went back to her room, and in the few moments before 
lunch, wrote, in a small leather bound diary which she 
kept in the spasmodic manner of most girls : 

This morning was a hard one to bear. No matter 
why. I would rather forget. But Corny and Louise 
Roberts came, and were angel-good to me, and now 
life seems so bright. Oh, dear Master, help me to 
fight down the self-seeking and sensitiveness that 
bring me all the suffering I know. Grant me to for- 
get self and do thy will with a strong and cheerful 
heart.’^ 

As they drove away from Mrs. Parry’s, Louise ex- 
claimed : 

If you’re not a surprising young person, Cornelia 
Roberts ! ” 

Why, my dear ? ” 

This invitation for Thursday evening ! I was 
struck speechless.” 

“ Wasn’t it wonderful ? Be sure I observed it. It 
made me think of what I saw in a newspaper the other 
day called ^ an ear-splitting silence.’ ” 

But how did you happen to do it ? I am glad 
you did, you know, but it struck me as a little — un- 
foreseen.” 


A LOYAL HE ALT. 


133 


was, entirely so, until I saw Julia Leighton’s 
eyes with the tears she tried so hard to keep out of 
sight, and that quiver in her voice. I foresaw then 
that we must do something.” 

Bless your heart ! But is an invitation to 49 
Brown Street a balm for a wounded spirit ? ” 

It would depend, Lou, upon how the spirit had 
been wounded. I thought I understood after a little 
what was at the bottom, although maybe it was only 
at the top of Julia’s heartache. But it was somewhere, 
I know.” 

^‘You mean that she has been a little left 
out?” 

I am afraid more than a little. Do you know 
of any one who has been really nice to her since she 
came here.” 

Why, no ; I don’t think any of the girls know her 
very well. She is a quiet creature, you know ; and 
then we have taken it for granted that her sister would 
look out for her socially. I should suppose Mrs. 
Parry was capable of doing that.” 

But Mrs. Parry is almost ten years older, and 
would naturally associate with married ladies of her 
own age. And she is comparatively a stranger. I 
am afraid Julia Leighton has been really neglected. 


134 


A LOYAL HEART. 


and she seems to me a thoroughly sweet, true-hearted 

girl.'' 

She is not bright like Mrs. Parry, but I trust her 
more." 

Hasn't Lois called upon her ? " 

I am not sure. She is not at all interested in her, 
1 think. You know Lois considers Mrs. Parry a 
stlfish, superficial woman." 

And so passes her by on the other side, and her 
poor little sister, too ? It does not seem like Lois." 

In one way it does not, but don't you know. Corny, 
that Lois is very decided in her opinions, and in some 
directions just a little bit unmerciful? " 

I don't know but she is. I believe it is apt to be 
so with strong natures like hers." 

It was hard for Corny to admit that Lois Fleming 
had a fault. 

I am sure if Lois understood," she continued, 
she would be lovely to Julia Leighton. Let’s drive 
around by the Flemings', Lou, on the way home ; I 
want to see Lois a moment. Oh, isn't it glorious to 
be out in the world again, and under such a sky ? " 

You are sure you are not too tired? " 

^^Sure." 

They were about stopping before Mr. Fleming's 


A LOYAL HEART. 


135 


house, when Lois, coming home from Sara Patten’s with 
her German books under her arm, met them. Pose 
Pomeyn, whom she had overtaken on the way, was 
with her. 

Lois was overjoyed to see Corny out for a drive, 
and at the same time exceedingly glad of this chance 
to introduce Pose to the girls. Corny had never seen 
Pose, in whom Lois had strongly interested her, and 
she was delighted with her beauty and the mingling 
of girlishness and dignity in her bearing. Pose looked 
slighter and paler than she had done before Mrs. 
Pomeyn’s death, and her plain black gown and hat 
enhanced this effect. She looked less magnificent, 
more spirituelle ; in manner she was more reserved 
than before, but with less of loftiness. 

For a few moments the four girls chatted pleasantly 
together, and then Corny motioned to Lois to come 
around to her side of the phaeton, away from the 
others 

Lois obeyed her wish, and standing close beside her, 
between the low wheels, and holding up her face to 
her friend with a look like a caress, said : 

What does Corny want ? ” 

The small silver cross hung from the pin which 
fastened Lois’ gown at the throat. Corny touched it 


136 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


significantly with one light finger, looking as she did 
so into Lo?s^ eyes, with that depth of pure sweetness 
in her own which those who knew Corny loved so 
well to see. 

Are you just as good as you can be to Julia 
Leighton ? ” she asked, softly. 

Lois dropped her eyes for an instant ; the color rose 
in her cheeks. 

Julia Leighton again ! ” she thought. This 
seems to be her day ! 

Aloud she said, raising her eyes again to Corny^s : 

No, ma’am. I’m not good to her at all. I hardly 
know her. Is there any special reason why I should 
be good to her ? ” 

I think there is.” And again Corny touched the 
silver cross at Lois’ throat. 

Come to tea with her at our house, on Thursday, 
will you, dear ? That is all now.” 

Of course I will,” was the cordial response. And 
Corny, confessing herself at last to be tired, they drove 
away, leaving Lose to tell Lois that she thought Miss 
Loberts had the sweetest face she ever saw, but she 
was sure she must be going to die, she looked almost 
an angel now. 

“ Oh, don’t. Lose ! ” cried Lois. You do not know 


A LOYAL HEART. 


137 


what she is to her mother and Louise, — to all of us 
who know her. I hope she is really gaining a 
little.^’ 

When Corny and Louise at length reached the 
small house on Brown Street, a tall young man with 
a strong, clear-cut face and the general air of a stu- 
dent, at once appeared in the front door. 

How did you stand it. Corny? was his first ques- 
tion, although his first look was undeniably for Louise. 

The nag behaved well, I hope ? 

Perfectly. We had a lovely drive. You canT 
think. Will, how good it seemed to be out again.’’ 

The young fellow put one strong arm around 
Corny’s delicate waist and helped her into the house, 
leaving Louise to take care of herself and hold the 
horse. 

In a moment he returned, and without paying any 
attention to Louise’s movement to leave the phaeton, 
sprang into the seat at her side, took the reins quickly 
from her hands and turned away down the street. 

Now you’ve got to take a bit of a drive with me,” 
he remarked, with a long look down into the bright, 
laughing face beside him. 

But, Will, I really can’t. I haven’t had a morsel 
of dinner, and you know I must be back at school in 


138 


A LOYAL HEART. 


less than an hour. Do you want me to go hungry ? 
And Louise began to pout, an exercise which Will 
Sayles considered wholly irresistible. 

Poor little child ! he said, half mockingly, half 
caressingly, but still driving on, while Louise subsided 
into a state of semi-submission in which she after all 
found something strangely pleasing. 

In a few minutes they drew up in front of a fine 
restaurant. Will gave Louise the reins ; vanished for 
a moment, and returned with a promising white box 
of liberal size. 

Chicken lunch ! he commented, tossing the box 
into her lap. Putting the horse on a fast trot, they 
were soon beyond the city limits and rolling smoothly 
along on the fine old Bay road, the favorite resort of 
young lovers. 

Now for dinner,^^ said Will. First meal at our 
own table ! And he placed the box cover firmly across 
his knees and brought to light a tempting array of • 
nicely browned chicken, rolls, and other dainties. 

Louise looked up into his face with happy eyes. 
Already he was assuming to her that character of 
special earthly providence which teaches happy wives 
so much of the divine. It was only a little thing, 
just one spring-like suggestion of the summer wealth 


A LOYAL HEART. 


139 


that was to be, but the promise and potency’’ of all 
their future seemed with them in that April nooning. 

Involuntarily their hands met and clasped, and for 
an instant Louise found hers lifted to her lover’s lips. 

God is good to you and me,” she said, very low. 
The words were a grace upon the little feast. And 
so they drove on together, rich in all that makes life 
worth living. 

But Will Sayles kept his eyes on his watch, and 
promptly at five minutes before two, the demure little 
teacher of Number Six Dorrance School ” took her 
place at her desk, with a business-like air which told 
no tales of stolen drives and Bohemian lunches. 


CHAPTER XI. 

“Faultfinding is an easy trade.” — J. H. Ewing, 


“Judge not ; the workings of his brain 
And of his heart thou canst not see. ’ ’ 


— Addaide A. Proctor. 


“There is but one failure, and that is not to be true to the 
best one knows .” — Canon Farrar, 

OIS FLEMING was very much in earnest, and 



-Li like many earnest people she made mistakes. 
She was not hardhearted, as she said Miss Barchet 
had called her in the earlier years of her girlhood. 
On the contrary, her sympathies were quick and wide. 
She w’as, however, intolerant of whatever seemed to 
her untrue, petty, and scheming, like many high- 
minded girls of her age whose own standards are high, 
and who have had no temptation to complexity in 
motive. She had not yet learned to see and prize 
whatever was “ lovely and of good report ’’ in a char- 
acter and life, and to pass by in silence and gentleness 
what was false and wrong. Thus her judgment of 
Mrs. Romeyn had been far more severe than that of 
either her father or mother ; and while Miss Barchet, 


140 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


141 


with all her long experience and keen observation of 
human nature, could regard Mrs. James Parry with 
cordial liking, in spite of certain obvious defects of 
character, Lois could grant her only uncompromising 
condemnation. She was unconscious ol* her own 
severity, and far from realizing that she was sur- 
rounding herself with an atmosphere of exclusiveness. 
An assumption of superiority on her own part was 
the last thing to which Lois would have plead guilty. 
She was more severe in her demands upon herself 
than upon others, and supposed herself to be that 
which she fully purposed in her heart to be, humble- 
minded, unassuming, and gentle toward all she met. 

What her father called the defects of her quali- 
ties were more clearly seen by her friends than by 
Lois herself. Certain of our own faults we know 
better than any other ever can; our struggles with 
them may last a lifetime, undreamed of by even ^^the 
tenderest heart and next our own; but this tendency 
to severity in judgment and intolerance of the defects 
of others, is one which others detect in us while it is 
yet unknown to ourselves. Miss Barchet, with her 
ardent, admiring love for the girl, who seemed to her 
almost an ideal of truth and nobleness, perceived this 
fault in her, and sought in her own way to correct it. 


142 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Louise Roberts saw and characterized it; Corny re- 
luctantly admitted that even Lois could err, albeit on 
^Surtue’s side;’’ while poor Julia Leighton, the un- 
conscious and most innocent object of disapproval, 
felt Lois’ severity with acute and bitter pain, utterly 
ignorant of its cause. 

Little by little, Lois herself was beginning to per- 
ceive it. She had confessed her hardness toward Mrs. 
Romeyn with sincere penitence ; she had supposed at 
the time that she had learned her lesson, and looked 
upon herself as having escaped a danger and con- 
quered a sin. But Mrs. James Parry, alive and very 
well satisfied with herself, scheming her little social 
schemes, dealing cleverly in her small superficialities, 
was a very different person from Mrs. Romeyn, passed 
on into the mystery and dimness of another life, and 
touched to strange tenderness in Lois’ conception of 
her by the revelation of her hidden and sacred sorrow. 

If Mrs. Parry had died, Lois would probably have 
freely forgiven her; if she had been suffering, she 
would have ministered to her with royal generosity ; 
if she had been hurt or humiliated, Lois would have 
cast all her sins forever out of sight and would have 
defended her valiantly. But as long as she was sel- 
fish, successful, and satisfied, Lois had little mercy or 


A LOYAL HEART. 


143 


sympathy for her. She was beginning now, however, 
to ask herself whether it was positively certain that 
Julia Leighton should justly share in Mrs. Parry’s 
condemnation because she was Mrs. Parry’s sister. 
The look in the girl’s face when she passed her in the 
park that morning had vaguely disturbed her. A 
sense that she had not been over kind to one who was 
certainly a stranger, and who might presumably be 
lonely, had followed her all day. Corny Roberts’ look, 
her question, ^^Are you just as good as you can be to 
J ulia Leighton ? ” had pierced straight to this uneasy 
place in her consciousness and had left her thoroughly 
dissatisfied with herself. 

Thursday afternoon came, and at five o’clock, Lois, 
with a sweet-grass basket in her hand, containing a 
bit of dainty work and a knot of English violets for 
Corny, started for Brown Street. It was early, but 
Corny’s teas always began early, since she was not 
visible,” as Louise said, after eight o’clock. This 
was understood by all her friends. 

On reaching the house, Lois found the door ajar, 
left so, as she rightly judged, for herself, and so 
entered quietly and ran up stairs, as she was privi- 
leged to do, to Louise’s room. Louise Roberts’ room, 
with its low, sloping ceiling, was the cosiest, cheeriest 


144 


A LOYAL HEART. 


place imaginable, all ^Hhe girls” thought. The white 
matting was brightened with various gay rugs; the 
windows were hung with flowered chintz, blue and 
pink blossoms on a white ground ; the furniture was 
a painted cottage set, pale bufl*, with sprays of bache- 
lors’ buttons and daisies. The walls were covered 
with photographs, sketches in charcoal and water 
color and inexpensive etchings, and further decorated 
with souvenirs and favors, tissue flowers, and Japa- 
nese fans and panels. It was always sunshiny, always 
tidy and comfortable. 

As Lois came into the room, she saw Julia standing 
before the dressing table, looking at a large photograph 
of Will Sayles which was there enthroned, as might 
have been expected, and talking to Louise, whose face 
was turned away from Lois, in a very animated man- 
ner. Julia was the first to see that Lois had come, 
and the swift, involuntary change in her expression 
struck Lois painfully. Evidently she had not been 
told that Lois was expected, and her face showed 
startled surprise, disappointment, and a sudden change 
from frank happiness to shyness and reserve. 

How disagreeable I must have been,” thought Lois, 

to make any one feel like that about me ! ” And she 
advanced to meet and greet the two girls, striving to 


A LOYAL HEART. 


145 


atone by her present cordiality for her past cold- 
ness. 

In a few minutes the three went down stairs to- 
gether, and were soon grouped around Corny’s sofa, 
with their fancy work, talking pleasantly. Mrs. 
Roberts joined them for a while, and Lois turned away 
from the others for a quiet visit with her about per- 
sonal and family affairs. Mrs. Roberts was very fond 
of Lois, and found great comfort and satisfaction in 
telling her matters of private concern and receiving 
her opinions and her appreciative sympathy. They 
talked in low, confidential voices, now of Corny’s 
health, and how, in spite of all they tried to hope, she 
was not growing stronger; of Louise’s engagement, 
which was a great happiness to them all, and which 
yet involved the hard thought to the mother of ulti- 
mate separation from the darling child. But Will 
was very young, and would not be able to think of 
marrying for a year or two, anyway. This was a 
comfort at least, Mrs. Roberts said, with a plaintive 
little sigh, and rose to go into the kitchen to prepare 
the tea. 

Lois had noticed while this conversation was going 
on how eagerly and closely the other girls were talk- 
ing. Julia was another person from the girl she had 
K 


146 


A LOYAL HEART. 


heretofore seen. She sat on a low seat close beside 
Corny, holding one of the sick girl’s hands, and look- 
ing with a face fairly radiant with love and gladness 
into her eyes. She replied to Louise’s roguish speeches 
with merry retort, showing herself, when at ease and 
drawn out of her shell,” as spirited and girlish as 
the rest. Lois began to think that she might be an 
interesting girl, after all, when not overshadowed by 
her sister Mrs. Parry. 

But as Lois, upon Mrs. Roberts’ departure, turned 
back to the other group and entered into their con- 
versation, a sudden change came over Julia, such a 
change as Lois had seen when she first came. The 
animation and spirit died out of her face, she ceased 
talking almost entirely and occupied herself with her 
work. There was nothing of intentional coldness or 
withdrawing in her manner, Lois felt that instinct- 
ively; but it simply seemed impossible for her to 
overcome the shyness with which Lois inspired 
her. 

Heartily wishing that she had not come, but had 
left the pleasure of the visit to Julia unmarred bv the 
restraint of her presence, Lois soon declared playfully 
that she was going to help get supper,” and followed 
Mrs. Roberts into the other room, Louise going with 


A LOYAL HEART. 


147 


her, and thus leaving Corny and Julia to a quiet Ute- 
di-Ute visit. 

Tea was served beside Corny^s sofa, a round table 
being brought in prettily furnished with old-fashioned 
china and silver and finest linen, carefully treasured 
from the earlier days when the family had been in 
better circumstances. Lois was asked to pour the tea, 
which she was especially glad to do, as it removed her 
a little from the other girls and left Julia greater free- 
dom and enjoyment she was sure. 

There were the lightest of tea-rolls, a skillfully com- 
pounded salad, small sponge-cakes as yellow as gold 
and other dainties which mother and daughters can 
produce as no cook ever can. It was the kind of 
cookery and service, Lois thought, as she always did at 
the Roberts’, which means culture and the inherited 
habit and taste of refinement, a quality which poverty 
can never neutralize. 

They sat long about the little table enjoying the 
freedom which the absence of attendance gives. No 
one was waiting more or less impatiently for them to 
come to an end of their tea-drinking, neither was their 
conversation modified and restrained by the thought 
that it was heard by an outsider. 

^^How I wish, Mrs. Roberts,” exclaimed Lois, 


148 


A LOYAL HEART. 


that mother and 1 could do the housework in our 
family ! It is never so cosy anywhere as it is here, 
and I think it is partly because there is no discordant 
element present, no alien ” 

^ No intermeddling stranger near,’ ” interrupted 
Louise. 

All the same, Lois, we would not in the least 
object to having a stranger to intermeddle with the 
dishwashing occasionally, would we. Corny ? There is 
no use in appealing to mother ; she will never admit 
that she would for a moment be dependent upon an 
alien as Lois calls it. Good word, my dear. Does 
your alien cook as well as she used to ? ” 

Drop into dinner to-morrow night, Louise, and 
see.” 

Oh, thank you. That would be a treat, especially 
if the alien should make clam soup.” 

You saucy girl ! ” cried Corny. 

I have still a little more tea in this teapot,” Lois 
announced, with her hand resting upon the silver 
owl’s head of the lid, and her head a little on one side, 
an attitude which caused Louise to murmur to Julia, 
It’s very becoming to Lois to pour tea, don’t you 
think so ? ” 

To whom shall I give it ? ” continued Lois. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


149 


To me, please,” called a manly voice from the 
hall, and Will Sayles, who had let himself in unheard, 
appeared in the doorway. 

Come here, Will,” said Corny, when the young 
man had been welcomed. There is room at my 
feet.” And she curled up a little closer among her 
pillows, leaving him ample room at the end of the 
long sofa beside the cat. 

Will Sayles was in evening dress with a flower in 
his button hole. Louise was going out with him 
later. His entrance made the change in tone which 
may always be observed when the masculine element 
is introduced in a company of ladies. The fun grew 
keener, the thoughtfulness more thoughtful. The con- 
versation became less personal, topics of wider and 
more general interest were discussed. Will was a 
manly fellow, full of the student’s careless nonsense, 
even of slang in a certain degree, but with much of 
force and purpose underlying all that he said and did. 
Lois and Julia noticed the affectionate gentleness of his 
manner toward Mrs. Roberts and Corny, and enjoyed 
the way he looked at Louise and spoke to her. Some- 
thing almost like shyness touching the lover-like de- 
votion which he was yet at no pains to conceal. No 
slightest word or motion of hers escaped him, and all 


150 


A LOYAL HEART. 


her bright speeches received a round of unspoken 
applause from his eyes, and in the smile which seemed 
to say, Was there ever such a charming girl ? 

The two guests came away together, Lois playfully 
asking the privilege of escorting Julia home, as the 
streets were more familiar to her, and the walk might 
be lonely for Julia. 

The attention was received with thanks, but without 
enthusiasm, as Lois plainly saw, and they walked on 
together talking in a colorless fashion of inditferent 
things. Nothing could have proved the wide dis- 
parity in temperament and interests between Julia 
Leighton and Mrs. Parry more than her utter neglect 
to improve the social opportunity now given her. 
With no vanity in the matter, Lois herself per- 
ceived this; the more inaccessible she found Julia, 
up to a certain point, the more her respect for her 
rose. 

At last, however, when they were not far from Mr. 
Parry’s, a theme of common interest was found, and 
Julia’s reserve quickly melted. They were members 
of the same church, although Lois had not until now 
known that Julia was more than an attendant at the 
services. Julia spoke earnestly of the help she had 
received from a recent sermon by the pastor. Dr. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


151 


Parmenter, and it proved to be one which had also 
touched Lois deeply. 

^^Do you know our church people much, Miss 
Leighton ? Lois asked. Have you come into 
church work at all ? ’’ 

^^No, Miss Fleming/^ replied Julia. I hardly 
feel that I know any one in Exeter except Corny and 
Louise Poberts. Perhaps I ought not to claim any- 
thing more than acquaintance with them, but they 
have been very kind to me. You know it is a little 
dreary sometim.es, when you don’t know people.” 

Lois responded sympathetically, pricked to the heart 
as she remembered how often she had passed Julia in 
the church aisle with a formal bow or an indiiferent 
word. 

‘^In my old home,” Julia continued, forgetting all 
her constraint, I was always busy in the work of 
the church. I had a lovely class of little girls in 
Sunday-school, and you can’t think how I miss it. 
My life here seems so aimless. Yo one needs me. I 
hate being a superfluous person ! ” 

By the time they reached Mr. Parry’s, a cordial 
interest had sprung up between the girls. Julia had 
promised to remain to Sunday-school on the following 
Sunday, and Lois had the unspoken intention of 


152 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


dividing her own class, which was overgrown, and 
putting half of it into Julia’s hands, for she saw in all 
that she said the earnestness and thoughtfulness which 
go far toward making a good teacher. 

They parted at Mrs. Parry’s door, Julia with the 
sense that a new life was opening before her, with new 
activities and interests ; Lois humbled with the per- 
ception of her own slowness and coldness of heart. 
She hastened along through the darkening streets, the 
little question saying itself over and over in her mind. 
Lord, shall I ever learn ? ” 

Meantime, in the little house in Brown Street which 
they had left, Louise Roberts had helped her mother 
to put away the tea things, had flown up to her own 
room and donned a simple evening dress of white 
woollen, over which she threw a long cloak, and then, 
with a light fleecy hood drawn around her bright 
hair and charming face, had started with Will for 
Maud Kingsley’s, where they were to spend the 
evening. 

I don’t care a bit about going there. Will,” Louise 
said, as they walked on, and turning a corner, came 
out under the glaring electric lights and blazing shop 
windows of a business street. ^^You know, Maud 
Kingsley doesn’t care an atom about me. She only 


A LOYAL HEART. 


153 


asks me on your account. I suppose she feels that 
she must now.^^ 

Why is not Miss Fleming going? ’’ 

“Lois? Oh, 1 guess she was not invited. You 
know, she doesn’t play cards.” 

“ Why not, I wonder ? ” 

“ She says she finds that she cannot put everything 
into her life, and that is one of the things she can 
afford to leave out. It is odd about Lois, anyway. 
She is the most popular girl I know; everybody loves 
her, but she is different from the rest of us. She 
never dances, you know, or plays cards, and lately 
she has given up the theatre entirely.” 

“ I wonder if she is not more than half right, 
Louise ? The time that cards, for instance, take does 
seem out of proportion to any possible good one can 
s:et out of them. Life is so short, dear. It startles 
me sometimes when I see how sternly one must choose 
in the use of life and one’s own energy. If we do 
this, we cannot do that. Ruskin has something to 
say about that.” 

“I know. I used to feel that I could have my 
fling along all the different lines, but things begin to 
narrow down. Will. What we do must be done 
quickly.” 


154 


A LOYAL HEART. 


What would you like best to do, Louise?” 

They had turned off from the main street now into 
one which was quiet and shadowy. 

What a strange question ! What comes to me, I 
suppose. A little good in the world, I hope.” 

Dear, let us try to be doing it now, and steadily, 
not in spasms. How would it be to give up cards ? 
They have taken so much time all winter, and what 
have we gained from them ? ” 

Louise was silent for a moment. 

I will give them up. Will,” she said, finally, with 
unwonted seriousness. I do not see one bit of good 
which they have given us, or one way in which we 
have helped anybody else in playing. And we cer- 
tainly cannot claim that we needed them for mental 
relaxation, as so many people say they do.” 

Then do we agree that this is positively our last 
appearance at a progressive euchre party ? ” 

They were standing now at the foot of the steps 
leading to Maud Kingsley’s door, the light from the 
windows streaming down upon their faces, bright and 
strong with purpose. 

We do,” said Louise, and she gave Will both her 
hands upon it. 


CHAPTER XII. 


“Once in an age God sends to some of us a friend who 
loves in us, not a false imagining, an unreal character, but, 
looking through all the rubbish of our imperfections, loves in 
us the divine ideal of our natures, — ^loves not the man that we 
are, but the angel that we may be .” — Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

“Better be a nettle in the side of your friend than his 
echo .” — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

^ ^ T WASN’T never in the way of goin’ into society 
J- very much, and I don’t hanker after it now. 
When they put on a quilt to the neighbors’, there 
where I used to live to Second Milo, I used to go 
and quilt. And Wednesday nights I went to prayer 
meetin’ at the schoolhouse, when they had any. I 
do’ know whether that’s what you’d call society or 
not, but it’s about as much as there was there where 
I was brought up.” 

It was Mrs. Barchet who said this, sitting very 
straight in her chair and knitting fast on the gray 
stocking, which was sometimes longer and sometimes 
shorter, but otherwise apparently unchanging. 

If there was anything upon which Mrs. James 

155 


156 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Parry prided herself, it was her skill in adapting 
herself to every one she met, however different from 
herself in tastes and interest. But, sitting by Rachel 
Barchet’s fireside and confronting this old lady, with 
her rough- hewn face and speech, her gingham apron, 
and her bald and abrupt statements of facts, which 
Mrs. Parry felt should have been kept in the back- 
ground, that lady, for once, felt herself at a loss. The 
call was not exactly of her own choosing. She had 
come to the house to see Miss Barchet, and this old 
lady had opeced the door and had told her that 
Rachel wasn’t to home,’’ but that she was her mother, 
and if she had any errand,” she could leave it with 
her. Upon this, Mrs. Parry felt that she could hardly 
escape without a brief call upon the mother of her 
friend, whom she had not happened to meet before. 
Hence her presence in Miss Barchet’s library, where 
she was struggling bravely to sustain conversation 
adapted to her hostess’ intelligence, inwardly reflect- 
ing all the while that if she had the misfortune to 
possess a relative like Mrs. Barchet, she should cer- 
tainly be discreet enough to suppress her. 

^^An old woman like this is far better off and hap- 
pier in a quiet upper chamber somewhere, with a 
calico-cushioned chair and a little stove where she can 


A LOYAL. HEART. 


157 


steep a cup of green tea for herself when she wants it 
and knit away undisturbed.’^ 

This is what Mrs. Parry said to herself. To Mrs. 
Barchet she said, going back to a remark she had 
made earlier, and which had called out the informa- 
tion regarding social life in Second Milo : 

Still I hope you enjoy Exeter, Mrs. Barchet, even 
if you do not go out very much.” 

It’s a good enough place to live in, as far as I know. 
There’s a considerable more passin’ than there was to 
Second Milo, and they bring most everything to the 
door. Makes it handy, but it costs a pretty penny, 
as I’ve often told Rachel. I know if she’d let me go 
to market myself and pick out my meat and things 
and bring them home in my own basket, we’d come 
off enough sight cheaper.” 

I should think that very likely, and you would 
enjoy the walk too, would you not?” 

^^Well, I do’ know as I should enjoy it, not in 
particular. That ain’t the question. Folks here 
seem to talk as if enjoyin’ yourself was the main 
thing. That wa’n’t the way I was brought up to 
look at things, nor the way I fetched my children up, 
either. Rachel, she brought herself up, as you might 
say.” 


158 


A LOYAL HEART. 


At this point in the conversation the door bell rang, 
and Mrs. Barchet got up from her chair, saying : 

Bachel keeps a hired girl, though there ain’t no 
kind o’ need of it ; but she’s out this afternoon, and 
the bell keeps me runnin’ most of the time.” 

Mrs. Parry was glad to be left alone for a moment, 
to indulge in the smile of amusement which she found 
it difficult to repress. She rose and made ready to 
take her departure as soon as Mrs. Barchet should 
return to the library, feeling that she had done all 
that could reasonably be expected. Mrs. Barchet did 
not return at once, and Mrs. Parry, as she stood by 
the table playing with a paper knife and catching 
occasional and gratifying glimpses of her own figure 
in the mantel mirror, presently recognized Lois Flem- 
ing’s voice in the hall. 

^^JSTo, I can’t come in, thank you; I am in a 
hurry,” Lois was saying. And then, in reply to 
another question : 

No, I don’t want to see Bachel ; it’s you I came 
to see. We are going to have a missionary meeting 
at our house to-morrow afternoon.” 

You be ? ” Mrs. Barchet’s voice indicated a vivid 
interest, of which Mrs. Parry would not have believed 
her capable. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


159 


“Yes, and it’s going to be very interesting, we 
hope. There is to be a lovely lady there from Japan, 
and she is to tell us about her own work there, and 
mother and I want you to hear her.” 

“ How should I go to work to get there ? Eachel 
has a class every Thursday afternoon, so she couldn’t 
go with me.” 

“ Yes, I know she is engaged, but we have it all 
arranged beautifully. A cab w’ill come for you a 
little before three, and you have only to step into it 
and be taken directly to our door. That is easy, isn’t 
it?” 

“Sounds so. Well, I’ll guess I’ll go. I should 
like to see a woman that had been out there among 
the heathen. The only missionary I ever see was one 
that never went. She come to Second Milo and spoke 
in meetin’ about the awful sacrifice she was a goin’ to 
make, and there Avas a good many that cried and felt 
pretty bad for her. But I never shed no tears. I 
says to them : ^ Don’t Avorry,’ says I, ^ she ain’t gone 
yet, and in my opinion the heathen that’s AV^aitin’ for 
her to bring the gospel to them Avill Avait a good 
Avhile.’ And sure enough. Inside of six months she 
AA^as married to a man that kept a meat market doAvn to 
Fitchburg, and settled doAvn as quiet as you please.” 


160 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Mrs. Parry heard a merry ripple of laughter from 
Lois at this point, in which she would have been glad 
to join. 

And that is the nearest you ever came to seeing a 
missionary ! It’s too bad, when you care so much for 
them too. Well, you shall see the dearest one in the 
world to-morrow afternoon. Good-bye.” And the 
door closed. 

Mrs. Barchet returned to the library, her usually 
immobile features fairly transformed with pleasure. 

That Lois Flemin’,” she said, ^Ms about the nicest 
girl I ever see. Did you ever see her ? Cornin’ here 
and takin’ as much interest in an old lady like me as 
if I was the queen of Sheby.” 

Mrs. Parry herself wondered at the interest mani- 
fested in Mrs. Barchet, although she expressed herself 
to the contrary ; but why the queen of Sheba should 
be looked upon as an object of any more interest was 
not obvious to her. She came away directly, in time 
to see Lois Fleming turning the corner of the street 
to the broad avenue which led to one of the fine semi- 
suburban neighborhoods in the city. 

She is on her way to the Komeyns’, I haven’t a 
doubt,” quoth Mrs. Parry to herself, and wondered 
what gift it was in Lois Fleming which made her 





I 




A Loyal Heart. 


Page 161 




A LOYAL HEART. 


161 


welcome everywhere. With her customary sagacity, 
Mrs. Parry was right in her conjecture. 

It was early June now, and as Lois turned in at 
the gate, it seemed to her the fine old grounds were 
never so lovely, even in the childish days, when they 
had something of the glory of a fairy region to her 
imagination The long stretches and terraces of rich, 
velvety turf were flecked with moving shadows from 
the young foliage of birch and beech branches which 
hung over them. Masses of rhododendron, -Nvith their 
delicate shades of pink, bloomed against the dark 
background of firs and blue-green pines. The faint, 
elusive fragrance of the honey locusts was blown to 
her ; she could not see the trees from this path, but 
she knew every one of them ; and beyond the house, 
far down a shaded walk, Lois could see the row of 
yellow lilies where they used to play, and where she 
and John used to measure Rose by the lily stalks, to 
see how tall she was. 

Rose stood on the stone steps now, waiting for her. 

We cannot measure you by the lilies any more, 
Rose,’^ Lois said as she reached the house, and looked 
up smilingly at the queenly form of her friend. The 
smile died away when she saw the weary, troubled 
look in her eyes. 

L 


162 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Come/^ said Lois, as she kissed her. I want to 
walk down that path and see if it is just as it used to 
be.^^ 

. Nothing is as it used to be,’’ returned Rose, with a 
tone of ill-content ; but she took Lois’ arm, and they 
strolled together over the soft, close-cut grass up the 
lawn to the path between the lilies. 

John was nice to me in those old days,” she went 
on, and I think he cared for his little sister. Now 
he forgets me entirely. He thinks only of his studies 
and plans and his travels, and yet he knows I am here 
alone, shut up with Gladys and Augusta in this mel- 
ancholy house. I don’t want him to come home, 
though. That would make no difference. He doesn’t 
understand me in the least.” 

They had come to a rustic bench under a group of 
graceful white birches, and Rose sat down, drawing 
Lois to a seat beside her. 

I have his last letter here in my pocket,” she con- 
tinued, and drew out a letter addressed to herself in 
a gentleman’s handwriting. Lois saw the address 
distinctly, thinking it was unlike John Romeyn’s 
writing as she had seen it hitherto, thinking also that 
the letter had not the usual foreign look. 

The careless way in which Rose drew out the letter 


A LOYAL HEART. 


163 


suddenly changed as she turned the envelope over and 
prepared to open it. 

I have taken the wrong letter/' she exclaimed 
hastily, and with a confusion which surprised Lois, 
who saw, too, the vivid color which came in her cheeks 
as she almost cruslied the letter together and slipped 
it out of sight again in her pocket. 

Where is he now ? " asked Lois, quickly, ignoring 
the slight awkwardness of the moment. 

I hardly know," replied Rose, abstractedly. In 
Russia, I think, doing political economy and studying 
up for the book he is going to write. Miss Barchet 
can tell you all about it. He writes to her, you know. 
I am not interested in Russia, myself." 

What are you interested in. Rose? " cried Lois, 
half involuntarily, feeling that something of the girl's 
strange constraint must give away. 

To her surprise Rose burst into a passion of tears, 
burying her face in her hands. 

Lois rose and walked away down the path. Do\vn 
where it ended at the edge of the terrace was the roof 
of the old honeysuckle arbor which stood below, her 
hiding place in the years that were gone. 

How all was changed since then ! John Romeyn, 
far away from his home and country studying upon 


164 


A LOYAL HEART. 


questions of wide, national interest, Rose here, alone 
in her beautiful, unhappy home, struggling with some 
unseen, mysterious force; she, Lois, no longer the 
simple-hearted friend of both, but strangely placed 
between her troubled love for the sister and her vague 
hostility to the brother. For Lois had not forgotten 
John Romeyn’s seeming coldness to her father through 
many painful years. Almost as hard she found it, 
with a woman’s inconsequence, to forgive him for 
making her go so far beyond herself on the evening 
when they had personated Romeo and Juliet For, 
unconfessed even to her mother, there lay all the while 
in Lois’ mind the perception that her Juliet was the 
result of John Romeyn’s Romeo. 

She turned back now to Rose. She had not wished 
to wound her pride by witnessing the loss of her usual 
self-command, and yet her whole heart yearned over 
the girl with a sympathy, baffled by the inscrutable 
reserve with which Rose surrounded herself, but strong 
with all the strength of Lois’ nature. Oh, to help 
her, to lead her out to better things, to make her 
know God ! 

Darling,” she said, won’t you let me help you ? 
Can’t I know what it is that you are breaking your 
heart over? ” And she sat down again on the bench 


A LOYAL HEART. 


165 


beside Rose, who had grown quiet, but yet sat with her 
head drooping on her hand, her breath coming in long, 
quivering sighs. 

“ You think I am unhappy, don’t you, Lois? ” 

Lois was startled by the unexpected calmness, even 
coldness, of Rose’s tone. 

You are altogether mistaken,” she added. I 
am madly happy — in one way — and yet I am most 
miserable. But I would not give one moment of my 
happiness for a whole life-time like yours, — like any 
one’s. You could not feel what I feel? You would 
not want to — but it is my life.” 

Lois looked at Rose. 

Her face had won back its usual repose, which yet 
was not repose, but a forced calmness over a hidden 
fire. Lois was almost frightened at the proud, passion- 
ate beauty of the mouth and the brilliant light of the 
eyes. 

But it was now the turn of Rose to be startled. 

^^Is the man whom you love worthy of you, 
Rose?” 

The question was asked in a deliberate, matter-of- 
fact tone, as if the existence of such a person were 
clearly understood between them. In reality, Lois 
had never until that moment believed that Rose’s 


166 


A LOYAL HEART. 


peculiar restlessness and reserve could be explained 
in this way. At this moment she was sure of it. 

Rose turned upon her for an instant, the quick in- 
stinct of concealment betraying itself in the sudden 
change in her face, but Lois’ clear eyes searching hers 
for the truth silenced the evasive words she would have 
spoken. 

He is far more than that.” 

The words were spoken slowly, with proud em- 
phasis, as if it were a nameless joy to be able to speak 
at last of what filled her heart. 

It is all right then, is it, dear ? A purely happy 
thing ? ” 

Why should it not be ? ” asked Rose, half resent- 
fully. 

Lois wished she had not that air of one on the 
defensive ; she feared a cause for it. 

It is not a thing to be spoken of, Lois,” Rose 
added now, with an intensity which almost suggested 
fear. ‘‘'No one knows anything but you. I did not 
mean that you should, and yet I am half glad that 
you have guessed it. But remember you must never 
hint such a thing to any other person. I would not 
have my father know for worlds.” 

“ But, Rose, you cannot be engaged without your 


A LOYAL HEART. 


167 


father’s consent. You must not think of such a tiling. 
It would be very wrong.” 

I beg your pardon, but I consider it perfectly 
right under the circumstances,” was the cold reply. 

There was a brief, constrained silence, and then 
Hose continued : 

I am very yoimg, at least every one in the family 
would say so. I do not feel that I am myself. But 
my father would not be willing for me to” — here 
Rose faltered — to care for any one until I am older. 
Then there would be other things to make trouble. 
People who are worldly wise think much of wealth 
and position.” And Rose assumed a look as of one 
superior to all such considerations, which did not suit 
her young face, and which almost made Lois smile. 

We must wait,” she went on, until there is more 
to offer to that kind of prejudice. For me, I would 
not care to wait for anything. I am perfectly satis- 
fied.” 

For a moment she looked it, and Lois’ heart 
bounded with the hope that this was a good and 
worthy affection, the influence of which would be to 
make Rose the noble and true-hearted woman Lois 
believed she could be. But then there was the 
secrecy, the withholding of the truth even from her 


168 


A LOYAL HEART. 


father. Nothing could seem right to Lois Fleming 
that involved deceitful or underhanded action. 

They had risen, and were walking slowly back over 
the lawn toward the house. Lois slipped her hand 
into that of Rose ; it was Rose’s left hand, white and 
beautiful. Lois noticed that it wore no ring of any 
kind. 

Rose,” she said, tenderly, your father is so fond 
of you. He would do anything in the world to make 
you happy. I know that he would not forbid your 
engagement to a man who 'svas worthy of you and 
who had won your heart, even though he might be in 
a different position from one that he might choose. 
Won’t you go to him and tell him everything? Dear, 
there cannot be any happiness where there is conceal- 
ment and a lack of perfect truthfulness. It is not 
good for any one ; I know it cannot be.” 

Lois spoke with deep earnestness, but she saw 
Rose’s face grow hard with every word. 

Lois,” she said, full facing her again, I would 
not have my father know of this that you have found 
out for anything in the world. If you should in any 
way betray it to him or to any other person, you 
would do me the greatest injury which could possibly 
come to me. Please do not talk of it any more.” 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


169 


There are the little girls,” Lois remarked, with 
an attempt at cheerfulness, as she saw Gladys and 
Augusta just leaving the carriage which stood before 
the house. 

Yes, I sent them out to drive,” commented Rose, 
indifferently. ^^It is the easiest way to dispose of 
them.” 

The remark hurt Lois. Rose’s coldness to these 
little motherless girls was always painful to her, and 
never had it been more so than now, when it was con- 
trasted with the capacity for affection which she had 
but now revealed. 

The children ran up to Lois, throwing their arms 
around her neck with pathetic eagerness. They seemed 
so pitiful to her in their black dresses ; she fancied a 
certain wistfulness in the eyes of all motherless chil- 
dren ; she saw it to-day in them more manifestly than 
ever before. 

And there was Rose ! They did not run to her, 
nor even notice that she turned away from them with- 
out speaking. They expected nothing else. 

Oh,” thought Lois, ^the pity of it’ !” 


CHAPTER XIII. 


“ He is a path, if any be misled ; 

He is a robe, if any naked be ; 

If any chance to hunger, he is bread ; 

If any be a bondman, he is free ; 

To dead men life he is, to sick men health ; 

To blind men sight, and to the needy wealth. ’ 


— Giles Fletcher 


OIS went home that evening bearing a heavy 



-Li burden. A girl of light and irresponsible nature 
would have quickly thrown it off ; a weaker person 
would have fallen to deploring the possession of such 
undesirable knowledge. Lois, having the habit of 
facing duty and responsibility, and of calling upon 
hei’self for her utmost of service and sympathy, did 
neither. Her thought was of Rose, not of herself, 
except as she asked what she could do, what she ought 
to do, to make straight this crooked place. 

If she only knew more, knowing so much ! Could 
she only see in what regions Rose’s mind w^as dwell- 
ing in this long dream in which Lois now plainly saw 
she always moved ! Was it with angels or with 
demons that she companied? Was this powerful 


170 


A LOYAL HEART. 


171 


influence which dominated her to be feared or to be 
'welcomed ? 

Gladly would Lois have dwelt upon the hopeful 
aspect of the situation, but some instinctive perception 
forbade it, in spite of the strong words in which Rose 
had declared the worthiness of the man she loved. 
If he were good and honorable, thought Lois, would 
he demand this absolute silence ? That seemed to her 
impossible. And now, she alone in all the world 
knew this thing, — kneAV that Rose Romeyn had 
pledged and given herself heart and soul to a man 
who might be worthy of her, but who might not, and 
who had won an influence over her, terrible indeed if 
it were not rightly used. The girl had no mother. 
Lois thought with tender pity of the awful diflerence 
that must make. She was sitting alone in the dimly- 
lighted parlor, thinking, not resting, as she meant to 
do ; across the hall the library door stood open, and 
she could see her mother sitting by the low light 
reading aloud in her quiet, restful way to her father, 
who was lying on the sofa. The boys were there and 
little Bertha. Such a picture they made, with the 
central point, that pure, love-lighted face of the 
mother. 

Ah,” thought Lois, if Rose had only told my 


172 


A LOYAL HEART. 


motlier what she has told me, she would have known 
what to do. Let me try and think what mother would 
say.'' 

Rapidly Lois reviewed the situation, thinking who 
there was to whom she could hope to persuade Rose to 
confide her secret ; that she should confide it to any one 
for her would plainly be dishonorable. Mr. Romeyn 
was out of the question for the present. Rose had left 
no room for doubt on that point. John Romeyn was 
abroad. Rose had said he did not understand her in 
the least, and his presence would make no difference 
to her. Lois was not sure of this. What was he 
really like? How would he act in a crisis like this? 
Lois could not feel that she knew him, and yet she 
had a strong impression of his character. She remem- 
bered how high-minded he had been as a boy, impe- 
rious, and yet very gentle at times. That night when 
they had been together again she saw how he had worn 
the look of thought and purpose of a manly man, — 
the grave courtesy, the chivalrous deference, which 
only men who look nobly upon women ever show. 
He might be proud, exclusive in his associations and 
prejudices, — all the Romeyns were so; he might be 
masterful with Rose and try to control her more than 
would be wise. He would at least, Lois believed, be 


A LOYAL HEART. 


173 


clear of sight to know what was right and firm of head 
in doing it. 

But then, John Eomeyn was not here. He was in 
Russia, and likely to be for months to come. Even 
were he here, it was not probable that Rose would 
give him her confidence. There was little use, she 
reflected, in thinking along this line. Who, then, 
was there ? 

Lois remembered Mrs. Massey, Mrs. Romeyn’s 
sister, and as quickly recalled Rose’s comment upon 
her, that a paper doll would be more comfort to her. 

She sat thinking, so absorbed that she had not 
heard the doorbell which had rung, and only me- 
chanically perceived that Walter had gone to the door. 
She was suddenly roused to the fact that some one had 
called by seeing Miss Barchet pass through the hall 
into the library. 

Rachel Barchet ! ” 

Lois did not move from her easy chair, but sat 
motionless, with her eyes fixed upon Miss Barchet’s 
tall, shapely figure as she stood under the full light 
of the chandelier, bending a little to speak to Mrs. 
Fleming, whom she would not suffer to rise. What 
a strong face she had ! There was not one inferior 
line in it, nothing that told of pettiness or weakness. 


174 


A LOYAL HEART. 


She loved Rachel Barchet. She was steady and 
wise. 

If the times comes/^ said Lois to herself, when 
Rose must be helped and I am insufficient, there is 
RachePs hand, and it is a strong one. And then,^’ 
she added, with the swift illumination of the thought 
kindling a smile on her face, there alone in the dark, 

there is God ! He won’t forget about Rose. She 
is his child.” 

Lois was strangely tired. She did not feel energy 
enough to rise and cross the hall to the library and 
join in the talking of the little circle there. It was 
pleasant to sit curled idly in the sleepy hollow chair 
and watch them, as if they had been a tableau vivanf, 
framed by the door. She could hear what they said, 
and found herself smiling at occasional bits of fun, 
and enjoying in languid fashion Miss Bardlet’s keen 
remarks as she talked with her father of the political 
situation. Only Lois was glad that she did not have 
to talk about it. 

Some time passed thus. Bertha was sent away to 
bed, and the boys went off to the sewing room to 
prepare some fishing tackle for an excursion the 
next day. Nine o’clock struck and Miss Barchet 
rose to go. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


175 


Where is Lois to-night ? she asked, as she drew 
her mantle around her shoulders. 

Lois stretched out one hand to the piano which stood 
near her, and struck a few chords softly. 

Oh, there you are said Eachel, her face grow- 
ing bright with a sudden pleasure. Lois was lier heart’s 
delight. 

What are you doing here in the dark, little child ? ” 
she asked gently, coming across the hall and finding 
a place near Lois, who still sat quietly, but drew her 
friend down and kissed her. 

So lazy this child is, Eachel,” she said, 1 didn’t 
want to move even for you.” 

^^Your voice sounds tired, Lois. What are you 
doing in these days, besides the good things that I 
know about?” 

Very little. This evening I have been trying to 
^ build a little fence of trast ’ around to-day, but 
it has been rather hard work. I never could drive 
a nail, you know ! ” 

Did you get it built at last ? ” * 

Yes. Just after you came in. You had a hand 
in the work.” 

Good. I am glad of that.” 

Eachel,” Lois asked, after a little pause, what 


176 


A LOYAL HEART. 


would you think would be the worst thing which could 
happen to any one ? ” 

I have ceased to be surprised, my dear, at any 
question you may ask, however large or unusual, 
replied Miss Barchet, laughing. I omitted to study 
up this matter before coming away from home to- 
night, so you will pardon me, if I take a moment to 
think.’’ 

Do, by all means. I am in no hurry.” 

Well, Lois,” Miss Barchet said, gravely, after a 
little, “ I should think nothing could be worse for a 
soul than to lose truth, — to let go its integrity.” 

Lois was glad that the darkness hid the color v^hich 
she felt come hotly to her cheeks. Does that mean 
me,” she asked herself, ^^as well as Bose? Am I 
being drawn into untruthfulness ? ” 

But do you think that is worse than selfishness ? ” 
she asked presently, her intonation showing the serious- 
ness of her word.” 

I think,” answered Bachel Barchet, slowly, that 
the character which is corrupted to untruth through and 
through is almost always led to it by selfishness. I sup- 
pose truthful persons have told what was not true on 
occasion from distinctly unselfish motives, — to save life 
or hope, or even reason. I do not defend doing that. 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


177 


Lois ; I am not sure about it yet. I mean to be some 
day. But that is not what I mean. I spoke of the 
untruth for self's sake, which honeycombs one’s whole 
moral nature. You know, I think there are people 
who have lost the capacity for even thinking honestly 
alone with themselves. That seems to me the worst 
of anything. Its punishment is in itself. ‘ The 
penalty of untruth is untruth,’ — ^you know the saying 
of the old Rabbi ! ” 

Yes, I remember. Do you think people who are 
brought up to know what is right — people like us— 
ever reach that point ? ” 

I fear they do, Lois, when the whole bent of the 
nature is selfish, and there is temptation.” 

Lois trembled. Every word that was spoken meant 
Rose Romeyn to her, and she seemed to stand alone 
and powerless for the defence of her soul from issues 
like this. 

^^Oh, Rachel, pray,” she said softly, but with a 
thrill of profound feeling in her voice. Pray to- 
night for one who is in danger, no matter who it is. 
It is one who needs God, and is blind.” 

I will, dear. Good-night, and remember, Lois, 
that Christ bore the sins of the world. That is not 
left for us to do.” 

M 


178 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


When Rachel Barchet reached her own house, half 
an hour later, she went, as she did every night, to her 
mother’s room, to make sure that she was comfortable 
and likely to sleep well. No kiss or caress was given 
at these good-night visits. Such attentions would have 
been embarrassing to Mrs. Barchet. As she said her- 
self, They wa’n’t in the w^ay of kissin’ to Second 
Milo. One minister’s wife they had used to kiss the 
women folks sometimes, but they always thought it 
was kind o’ silly.” But Mrs. Barchet’s affections, 
although kept severely out of sight, according to 
ancient New England ideas, w^ere strong and deep. 
She was glad to have Rachel come to her room, and 
she looked at her, as she sat on the side of her bed 
braiding her heavy, iron-gray hair, with motherly 
eyes. 

Rachel,” she said, suddenly, ^^has the Romeyn 
girl ever experienced religion ? ” 

Rachel was startled, not only by the unexpectedness 
of the question, but by the way it fitted into her own 
secret thoughts just then. 

^^No,” she said, soberly, am afraid not, although 
she has been brought up to respect the forms of re- 
ligion.” 

‘^That ain’t it,” said her mother, with emphasis. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


179 


It ain’t the forms that do the work. She needs a 
change of heart. I’ve seen it every time she’s been 
here. There’s somethin’ a gnawin’ at her vitals, and 
I know it just as well’s if she’d told me so.” 

Eachel laughed in spite of herself. She could not 
help thinking of the Spartan boy with the fox, but 
she understood her mother’s meaning perfectly, and 
recognized the clearness of her perception. 

Next time she comes here,” said Mrs. Barchet, as 
Rachel began to turn down the gas, I’m a goin’ to 
have a talk with her on the subject of religion.” 

Very well, mother ; I hope you will. Now don’t 
lie awake and think about it any more ; it is late. 
Good-night.” 

’Twouldn’t hurt me none to keep awake and pray 
awhile for a girl like that, without any mother to 
pray for her, and her father taken up with worldly 
things. The Lord has laid a burden for that girl’s 
soul on my heart, I tell you, Rachel,” 

The room was wholly dark now, and Rachel was 
feeling her way to the door. 

Then there are at least two of us agreed as touch- 
ing this thing which we shall ask, mother. Good- 
night.” 

Lois was not so much alone as she thought. 


180 


A LOYAL HEART. 


In her own room, Rachel sat long, absorbed in 
thought. As was usually the case, her thoughts took 
shape in definite action. She went to her desk, 
finally, with the air of one who has reached a decision, 
wrote a short letter, which she addressed, and stamped 
with double postage. Then she sat for a moment, 
with the letter before her, considering. As the result 
of her thinking, she went quietly down stairs, and out 
of the front door to the mail box opposite, where she 
dropped her letter. 

If I mail it to-night,’^ she said to herself, it will 
catch the fast steamer Saturday morning.” 


CHAPTEE XIV. 

“Think of Grod; reject whatever excludes the thought of 
him. 

Distrust the love that comes too suddenly. 

Distrust the pleasure that fascinates so keenly. 

Distrust the words that trouble or charm.’ ’ 

— From the French. 

L OIS had wished that she could see where Eose Eo- 
meyn’s mind dwelt, and with whom, in her 
thoughts, she companied. 

On the evening of their talk in the garden, Eose 
left her father with his paper and the little girls with 
their nurse, while she went out on the great veranda 
at the back of the house, wrapped in a light shawl. 
A hammock hung here, just within the shade of the 
clustering vines, where the air was laden with the 
breath of roses, on which the dew was falling. Eose 
threw herself into the hammock, and with her cheek 
pressed upon one hand, looked out through the vines 
at the summer-night sky, where, one by one, the stars 
were peeping through, and where a crescent moon 
hung low. Lying thus, she gave herself up to the 

one absorbing enjoyment of her life, following herself 

181 


182 


A LOYAL HEART. 


through a series of scenes and experiences, the memory 
of which sent the color to her cheeks and the light to 
her eyes. 

She was in the studio at Madame Leton’s, bending 
over her drawing board, hard at work upon a cast of 
a child’s little hand. There were other girls in the 
room, five or six, all at work with brush or pencil. 
How still the room was ! how clear the white, north 
light ! But that day she could not succeed in her 
work. The perfect curve of the little wrist eluded 
her, hard as she tried to fix it upon her paper. 
Almost discouraged, she dropped her charcoal, with a 
glance over her shoulder. Some one came now and 
stood behind her chair. There was no word to break 
the busy stillness of the room, but there was a strange 
magnetism in that presence so near her. She could 
feel the eyes, that seemed to rest on her as well as on 
her work. 

Then the charcoal was silently taken from her 
fingers. She knew the signal, and rose to give the 
professor her place, standing timidly at his side. 

If you could only draw your own hand,” he said, 
very low, as he gave her back her corrected work, 
and with it a smile that set her heart beating fast. 

The drawing master was the hero of the school. 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


183 


All the girls were romantic over him, and vied \Yith 
each other in winning a look of interest or a word of 
praise from him. The simplest attention on his part 
was treasured up and exulted over as a great experi- 
ence. There was something in the personality and 
presence of the man to account for this. He had a 
striking face, with melancholy, brooding eyes, a man- 
ner of mingled reserve and gallantry, a brilliant smile 
on rare occasions, a sorrowful past, somewhat tradi- 
tional, it is true, but firmly believed in by Madame 
Leton’s young ladies, in which he had endured tragic 
suffering like a hero, losing wife and child, and by 
some unaccountable train of misfortunes, even his 
reputation as a great artist, and being brought to 
the rather humiliating pass of teaching drawing and 
painting in a boarding school. When the other girls 
discussed their drawing master and poured out their 
ardent sympathy and admiration. Rose Romeyn was 
silent. It was generally supposed that she alone felt 
complete indifference to him. Alas for Rose ! It 
would have been better for her to have shared in the 
childish prattle of her schoolmates than to have hidden 
a fire in her heart to burn and scorch her very life. 

Another day, in the studio, he had asked her to 
wait a moment, and then had come a question which 


184 


A LOYAL HEART. 


surprised her. Would she grant him the favor of 
sitting for him a few times as a model for Rosalind 
in the picture he was painting? No face but hers 
could satisfy him, and he had tried in vain to paint it 
from memory. The request had been submitted to 
Madame Leton. The result was, regular visits, last- 
ing through several weeks, to the studio of the artist, 
always in the company ’ of a lady teacher, always 
passed in decorous silence. There was nothing to 
report or to describe, no word to recall as important, 
no incident of interest, but all the while a strange, 
indefinable communication seemed to exist between 
them. The very silence seemed full with significance. 
The simplest suggestion meant volumes. 

After that, no matter how it came about, there were 
meetings in the park, apparently accidental, brief, but 
fixed in Rose’s memory in every detail. Then one 
day came the profession of absorbing love, with her 
own trembling confession to meet it, — her word was 
given, her whole heart was won. 

What did she know of this man to whom she was 
bound by a sacred promise, into whose hands she had 
given herself with complete surrender? She knew 
his name and his profession. She knew that he was 
poor; that his past had been tragical and unfortunate. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


185 


She knew that he exacted a promise of perfect silence 
as to their engagement until he should be in a position 
to olfer himself to her father as a suitor worthy of his 
daughter. This was all she knew, but in the rose- 
colored atmosphere of her dream it was enough. She 
did not care to know more. He was so much older 
and wiser than she ; she could trust him completely. 

And yet in her heart of hearts Rose Romeyn knew 
that she was doing wrong, — knew that she had entered 
upon a dangerous path. There were times even when 
she felt as if the overmastering influence which this 
man had so suddenly obtained over her was a thing 
fearful and malign, — times when she trembled to think 
that she had so given herself into the hands of a 
stranger. But once again in his presence, the slight- 
est word or look of his would bring her back to 
unquestioning confidence ; and saddest of all was the 
feeling, growing stronger all the while within her, 
almost unconsciously to herself, that she did not care 
whether the influence were good or bad, so that she 
could but feel the love that looked from his eyes and 
thrilled her in his voice. 

No word regarding the future had been spoken 
between them. To Rose at least all was vague and 
undefined. She simply drifted along from day to 


186 


A LOYAL HEART. 


day, excited with tlie strain of concealing her feelings 
from all around her, living a strange, double life, in 
wliich the hidden part was far more real to her than 
the seen. Then, suddenly, had come the summons 
home, and an end to the dangerous, fascinating life 
she was leading Rose came home with a restless 
heart, fiercely longing for the old conditions, consum- 
ing itself with its inward fever, a heart in which no 
room was found for womanly tenderness or loving 
care for those about her. 

Even months ago, in the winter, when she had 
been at home, Rachel Barchet had felt the unrest, the 
half-defiant reserve which had fallen upon the girl, 
and had vaguely feared some ominous influence in her 
life. 

What if we have no instinct to draw back, but go 
on, and want to, deeper and deeper ? ” 

Lois Fleming often recalled this question, which 
Rose had asked her on the night of their first meeting. 
She had wondered then what it could mean. Now 
she feared that she understood it, and it disturbed her 
far more than then. 

But Rose, absorbed in her dream, did not realize 
that her hidden life was setting its impress on her in 
the eyes of others, and shaping her to a new charaeter 


A LOYAL HEART. 


187 


which even a casual observer might see. She thought 
her secret all her own until that June day when, half 
against her will and half deliberately, she let Lois 
Fleming discover it. 

A week passed, during which Lois carried her 
burden for Rose alone and in silence, but wuth prayer 
day and night for divine guidance for herself and her 
friend. Then a little thing happened which gave her 
more to think of, and crystallized her half-formed 
purposes to take hold of the situation with her own 
hand. 

Mr. Fleming called Lois aside one day after dinner 
and said, with unusual seriousness : 

You see a good deal of Rose Romeyn, do you 
not, Lois?” 

Yes, papa, really more than of any one else nowa- 
days, strangely enough.” 

Well, it seems to me that some one ought to have 
a little oversight over that girl. I fancy her father 
lets her do very nearly as she pleases, and I’m inclined 
to think that she may possibly use her freedom a little 
too freely.” 

How do you mean ? ” 

Lois felt her color come and go as her father’s eyes 
rested on her face. 


188 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Two weeks ago she drew a hundred dollars from 
the bank, and this morning she called for a hundred 
and fifty. Each time it was on her own private 
account; her father, you know, gives her an allow- 
ance for her personal expenses, which is often over- 
drawn.^^ 

It seems a good deal for her to want just now,’’ 
said Lois, thoughtfully, knowing that Rose had been 
having no new gowns recently, and. unable to think 
of any other way in which she could use such large 
sums of money for personal expenses. 

^^In the last case, this morning, she wanted the 
money in a New York draft, payable to herself. I 
noticed that she hastened to indorse it, and to inclose 
it in a letter which she had brought with her to the 
bank ready for mailing. I saw that she sealed it, and 
went out with it in her hand as if in haste to have it 
posted.” 

Of course, you did not see to whom the letter was 
addressed,” Lois asked, quickly. 

Oh, no,” replied her father, carelessly, that was 
not my affair. I think I did see ^ New York City ’ 
on the envelope, although I may be mistaken about 
that. I only spoke to you about this, Lois, that you 
might use your influence with the girl if she is 


A LOYAL HEART. 


189 


inclined to recklessness in the use of money. I told 
her father that her account was overdrawn, but it did 
not seem to make any impression upon him.’^ 

I am glad you told me, father,^^ said Lois ; I 

will do what I can.^^ 

A little hard thinking made several things clear to 
Lois. One was that it was her duty now to learn the 
name and character, if possible, of Eose Eomeyn’s 
lover. She had a conviction which she could not 
defend, that the money in the letter, of which her 
father had told her, went to that man. If this were 
true, Lois believed him to be proven an ignoble and 
designing character; but she had no evidence, and 
how to get any was a difficult question. A second 
thing which became clear to Lois was that she must 
exercise a constant watch upon Eose’s movements, 
repulsive as the thought was to her, and secure every 
scrap of information concerning the matter, even by 
means which she would ordinarily disdain. Eose, 
she knew, would not reveal the name or station of 
her lover. She carefully concealed every clue to her 
secret, and Lois could not have brought herself to 
look over her private possessions, even if she had had 
opportunity. But she felt a sense of danger in the 
very air. Something was coming, and coming fast. 


190 


A LOYAL HEART. 


and she alone was in a position to interfere. Rose 
was more fitful, more moody, more excitable than 
ever. She was also more reserved, avoiding any 
further allusion when with Lois to the matter nearest 
to both their hearts. 

A few days after the little talk with her father, 
Lois went to see Rose at an early hour in the fore- 
noon, intending to spend the day with her, the night 
too, if Rose should ask her, for Lois had resolved to 
keep near the girl, regarding herself as a kind of 
unsuspected bodyguard against impending evil. 

Lois had a letter in her satchel ready to be mailed. 
She had a purpose in this. She was gratified to 
observe the gray uniform of a postman in sight as 
she approached the Romeyn gate, before which, on a 
lamp post, was a mail box. This was what she had 
hoped for. Lois walked slower, allowing the mail 
carrier to reach the box before her, then stepping to 
his side as he unlocked the box, she glanced with 
intense eagerness at the addresses of the few letters 
' which it contained as he slipped them out. There 
was one in a large square envelope of familiar size 
and tint. Yes, that was Rose Romeyn’s handwriting. 
Could she snatch the address in the instant of the 
letter passing from the box to the postman’s bag? 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


191 


Lois interrupted the man, thus gaining a second. 

Here is a letter. Will you be so kind as to take 
it for me ? 

He looked up with a good-humored smile. Per- 
haps he noticed her eagerness, but mail carriers are 
accustomed to eager faces. That look gave Lois half 
the chance she wanted. The letters dropped together 
into the leather bag, and leaving the man locking the 
box, she Avent on through the gateway, but before she 
had turned the curve in the path Avhich brought her 
into sight from the house, she had Avritten with pencil 
in a little memorandum book she carried : 

PROF. NOEL , 

1121 WEST , 

NEW YORK CITY. 

Lois trembled from head to foot as she Avalked 
sloAvly toward the house. She felt guilty, unhappy, 
loAvered in her own eyes by this action, the first she 
had ever performed Avhich she felt to be in the faintest 
degree underhanded or prying. And yet she was sure 
she was doing right. 

Rose Avelcomed her Avith unusual tenderness, and 
took her up to her OAvn room to rest and groAV cool, 
for it Avas a warm morning; June Avas almost over. 


192 


A LOYAL HEART. 


“ I am going to have Mary make you some lemon- 
ade, Lois,^^ said Kose, looking at her friend as she 
lay on the broad cretonne-covered lounge, with its 
luxurious down pillows. You look wretchedly pale 
and tired. You ought not to have walked. Next 
time I shall send the carriage for you. Now lie still 
until I come back.^^ And Rose disappeared. 

Lois looked around the room, seeking in vain, as 
she had done before, for a photograph or any other 
sign of the hero of Rose’s romance, but there was 
none. Her eyes finally fell upon a catalogue of 
Madame Leton’s school, a very elegant affair in rough, 
white parchment paper. It lay on a table near her. 
Lois took it up with languid interest and turned the 
leaves. She found the page on which were printed 
the names of the various instructors under Madame 
Letou. Suddenly one name stood out sharply before 
her, and her heart quickened its beating. Professor 
Noel Durand, Teacher of Drawing and Painting, and 
Director of Art Classes.” 

Oh, Rose,” Lois cried out in her heart, I think 
I know your secret, and I tried to know it, but I did 
not, did not want to, unless you told me yourself.” 


CHAPTER XV. 


“Take unto thyself, 0 Father, 

This folded day of thine, 

This weary day of mine. 

Its ragged corners cut me yet, 

Oh, still the jar and fret. 

Father, do not forget 
That I am tired 
With this day of thine.” 

— Elizabeth Stuart Phdps. 

T he time had come when Lois could no longer 
keep Rose’s secret to herself. She confided the 
whole story to Miss Barchet, with what result the 
following letter will disclose : 

“My dear Lois : I reached home to-night. My wander- 
ings took me a long and weary way, and I am strangely 
exhausted. I may not see you for days, and only regret that 
I must fail you when you may possibly need me. Do not be 
anxious for me for a moment. All I need is rest. 

“ This is what I have learned : Noel Durand is an unprin- 
cipled and dishonorable man. He has a wife and children 
living and deeply wronged. He may marry legally, but mor- 
ally he has no right. He is false to the core ; even his name 
is not his own. There is nothing but disgrace possible for any 
one who has to do with him. I can give proof of all this. I 

193 


194 


A LOYAL HEART. 


shall send a statement of these facts to Madame Leton through 
a friend in New York. 

“Now, dear child, use this knowledge bravely and fear- 
lessly. God will teach you and make you strong with his own 
strength. I pray for you. 

“Rachel Barchet.” 

Lois Fleming read this letter in her own room late 
at night. A special messenger had brought it to her. 
Two weeks had passed since her discovery of the name 
on Rose’s letter ; two weeks of steady work for Rachel 
Bardlet, ending with a long journey ; of tense waiting 
in outward quietness for Lois ; of the old double life 
for Rose, who suspected nothing. 

Lois had given the name and address to Rachel, 
with the few facts in her possession, feeling that she 
could no longer bear the responsibility alone. No 
other person shared the knowledge. Mr. Romeyn 
had gone to Newport. His little daughters with 
Mrs. Massey were to follow later. Rose had declined 
going. Neither Rachel nor Lois felt that it would be 
wise to write Mr. Romeyn of a matter which thus far 
was nearly all suspicion, and which it was Rose’s right 
and privilege to confide for herself, if she cho.se. 

Lois read Rachel’s letter again and yet again. She 
trembled at the awful danger to Rose which it re- 
vealed, but her heart went out to God in gratitude 


A I.OYAL HEART. 


195 


that he had led them to a discovery of the truth before 
it was too late. The girPs spirit and courage rose to 
the occasion. With a sternness of resolution which 
calmed her pulse and stopped her trembling, she sat 
down at her little desk, took a sheet of paper, and 
wrote out in distinct sentences the charges against 
Noel Durand’s character. At the foot of the page 
she wrote and underscored the words: “And for all 
this there is proof.” 

This sheet she folded, placed in an envelope, which 
she directed to Eose Eomeyn, and sealed. When this 
was done, she dropped it in her little sealskin satchel, 
where it remained until she was ready to use it. This 
done, Lois wearily prepared to retire, and knelt long 
in fervent prayer for the safety and salvation of the 
undisciplined, wayward girl who, with all her faults, 
was yet so dear to her. 

Lois tossed painfully all night, and was glad when 
the morning came, although it brought only a heavy, 
sultry day full of dread and depression. She was 
dressed long before breakfast was ready, and at nine 
o’clock started for Mr. Komeyn’s. 

Eose had not expected to see her that day ; she had 
not asked her to come, — in fact, she had preferred to 
be alone. For reasons which she could not or did not 


196 


A LOYAL HEART. 


explain to herself, there was something oppressive to 
Rose in Lois’ frequent presence of late. Their natures 
seemed out of accord ; there was a constraint and sense 
of difference between them. Rose knew that Lois 
thoroughly disapproved of the secrecy of her engage- 
ment ; Lois had told her how she felt several times. 
Her advice and her criticism of Rose’s conduct was 
exceedingly unwelcome to the girl, and she was begin- 
ning almost to dread being alone with Lois. How- 
ever, she received her cordially, and took her into the 
library, where the north windows stood open toward 
the dense shade of the garden, and where a slight 
breeze stirred the heavy curtains. 

How terribly close the air is this morning,” said 
Rose, sitting down near Lois. Do you think there 
will be a thunderstorm ? ” 

I almost hope so,” replied Lois ; it would clear 
the air of this heaviness.” 

Rose wore a trailing dress of sheer white lawn that 
morning, which was turned away at the throat, and 
had loose sleeves, which left the beautiful arms bare 
below the elbows. Her face was singularly pale ; her 
bright hair was knotted carelessly, high upon her 
head ; there was no flower, or jewel, or touch of color 
about her save in her hair and the light in her eyes 


A LOYAL HEART. 


197 


and the red of her lips. Lois thought she had never 
seen her so lovely. There was something very wom- 
anly and noble about her that morning, and her whole 
soul rebelled at the thought of all that glorious wom- 
anhood given to a man false and dishonorable through 
and through. 

Oh, my dear,’^ cried Lois, stung by the thought 
until she suddenly broke off the bonds of silence and 
reserve, I do love you so ! You do not know. Rose, 
how I pray for you to be happy ! ” 

And as she spoke, Lois thought, with a little shiver, 
of the folded sheet of paper in her possession ; the 
bag was lying in her lap at the moment. 

^^Why, Lois?^^ said Rose, gently, looking with 
wonder at her friend. Do you not know that I am 
happy ? ” 

‘^Are you happy enough to bear a hard blow?’^ 
Lois asked the question slowly, her face white and 
solemn. 

A flush rose in the girl’s cheek, and died away, 
leaving her paler than before. Her eyes searched 
Lois’ face with startling earnestness. In all the 
strain and tension of the moment, Lois felt a throb of 
joy in her heart as she met that look ; there could 
be no ingrained deceit or guiltiness in the soul that 


198 


A LOYAL HEART. 


looked through those eyes; it might be moving in 
perilous places, but it was still an unstained soul. 

With unspeakable yearning in her heart, Lois went 
and threw her arms around Rose, sitting on the wide 
arm of her chair, and looking fully with her clear, 
gentle eyes into her face. 

Death has not come to any one you love, Rose,’^ 
she said, with quieting steadiness in her voice, but 
something has been brought to me about a person you 
have cared for, which will be very painful to you. 1 
do not like to bring this trouble to you, darling. If 
it were possible, I would keep it away. You will 
believe that I love you. Rose, whatever comes ? 

Rose drew back a little from Lois ; the Romeyn 
blood was making itself felt. 

I cannot think of any trouble which could come 
to me, except death,’^ she said, proudly ; I have noth- 
ing else to fear.” 

But evep as she uttered the words the old nameless 
misgiving of Noel Durand was stirring to something 
like terror in the heart of Rose. The spell of his 
presence had been long removed. 

Lois had opened her bag, and taken out the sealed 
envelope. Rose saw her own name written upon it in 
Lois’ handwriting. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


199 


What is this ? ” she asked, taking it in her hand. 

It is for you to read, Rose,” said Lois ; her voice 
did not tremble, but it was hardly her own. vShe 
seemed to herself like one about dealing a death blow. 

You will be angry with me at first, I am afraid, 
when you read it, but some time you will know that 
I have done what I have done because I love you.” 

There was a moment’s silence. Rose had dropped 
the envelope in her lap, and was looking at Lois with 
startled eyes. 

Lois rose from her place and moved toward the 
door. 

Yow I am going to leave you,” she said. I will 
go up stairs and see the children for a while. Then 
I will come back if I may.” And she smiled a faint 
shadow of her own smile, and so went out. 

When she returned, within an hour. Rose stood, cold 
and statue-like beside the open fireplace. There were 
great logs across the andirons, but there had been no 
fire lighted there for many days. On the hearth lay a 
little handful of light ashes from which a faint smoke 
was rising. 

There is your letter,” said Rose, pointing with her 
finger to the ashes. Her voice was toneless, and she 
trembled from head to foot, but she was clothed in 


200 


A LOYAI. HEART. 


pride as in a garment.” Seeing this, Lois feared for 
her more than ever. 

Shall I go away, Rose ? ” she asked ; would you 
prefer to be alone?” 

Certainly not,” returned Rose, pointing impe- 
riously to a chair. She herself walked up and down 
the room with rapid steps as Lois remembered she 
had done the night when Mrs. Romeyn died. 

The room had grown strangely dark, and the air 
seemed pulsing with the electric storm which was ap- 
proaching : the thunder was rolling majestically in the 
distance and coming nearer. 

want to ask you several things,” Rose said, 
turning her white face, and her eyes on fire with a 
dangerous light, upon Lois, who met her look gravely 
and unafraid. Since when have you felt called upon 
to constitute yourself a spy upon my alfairs? Or 
have you put them into the hands of professional de- 
tectives ? Some one at least seems to have been busy.” 
And Rose made a swift, impatient gesture of scorn 
with both hands. 

Lois rose and stepped nearer to her, confronting her 
through the dizzying darkness of the room. The 
lightning was flashing now across the open windows 
and the crash of thunder following fast. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


201 


Dear,” Lois said, her voice gentler than Rose had 
ever heard it, but with a quiet power and dignity 
which controlled the desperate excitement of the 
moment, it will not be possible for us to talk to- 
gether while you can speak to me or think of me in 
this way. It will hurt you. Rose, more even than it 
will hurt me. Let us wait. By-and-by it will be 
lighter.” 

As Lois spoke the last words, there came a blinding 
flash and a terrific explosion, so close to the house that 
for an instant they were both nearly stunned. The 
children’s voices were heard on the stairs crying in 
terror. Lois threw the door open and ran out to 
quiet them. The rain was now beating most fiercely 
against the windows, and the servants were running 
with frightened faces to close those which were open, 
and to try and discover what harm had been done. 

A sudden gleam of light from under the storm 
cloud’s edge broke with the first rush of the rain. 
The tension of the air seemed suddenly relieved. 
The coachman soon came in to tell them that the great 
oak tree, the one where the swing used to be, — Lois 
and Rose both remembered it by that, — had been struck 
by the lightning and badly shattered. But the storm 
was passing over. 


202 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Rose stood in the doorway of the library, her head 
thrown back against the heavy oak molding, her hands 
dropped nervelessly at her side. 

‘^Children, go back now to nurse,’^ she said to 
Gladys and Augusta, who were on the broad stairs with 
Lois, to whose hair and hands they had transferred 
their attention since the excitement of the storm was 
over. They had a kind of rapturous admiration for 
her, and were happy when they could hold her hands 
or play with her soft hair. 

It was not until Lois had repeated the direction that 
they obeyed Rose, moving up the stairs with reluctant 
feet and discontented faces. 

Lois looked down at Rose, wondering what would 
come next. She saw her lips tremble; the suffering 
in her face smote her sharply. She held out one hand 
toward Lois, with the word Come,” and turned back 
into the librar}L 

Forgive me,” she said, as Lois entered the room, 
where she found her lying on the broad leather sofa 
in an attitude of exhaustion. I hardly knew what 
I was saying just now.” 

Lois drew a low chair near to the sofa, but where 
she could not see Rose’s face. She knew how cruelly 
it hurt the girl to have her suffering seen. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


203 


“ It is too hard for you, Rose, almost more than you 
can bear. Do not think that I wonder at anything 
you may say. T think we would better not talk very 
much this morning. I know you are too tired. Try 
not to think even ; just rest.’’ And Lois passed her 
finger tips over Rose’s forehead and through her hair 
in soothing, monotonous motion. Neither spoke for 
some time, and when Lois looked she found that Rose 
had quietly fallen asleep, exhausted by the strain 
through which she had passed. 

It was noon when she awoke. Lois was gone. In 
her hand she found this note : 

“Dear : Believe, first of all, that God loves you, and turn 
to him when you do not know what to do. All my thoughts 
are prayers for you. It has not been easy for me, Rose, to 
hurt you so. Some time you will understand it all, and then I 
think you will believe that I love you and have been true to 
you in every thought and action. Your secret has been 
sacredly kept. Only one person knows anything of it, and that 
is Rachel Barchet. She loves you as I do. You can trust 
her. I have faith in you. Rose, that you will do the one only 
thing which remains. Yours tenderly, “Lois.” 

Coming away from the Romeyns, tired beyond ex- 
pression, Lois went around by Brown street, and 
stopped a little while to see Corny Roberts. She had 
been so fully absorbed for weeks with her anxieties for 


204 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Rose Romeyn that she had not seen the girls as often 
as usual, and she knew that Louise had gone away 
with the Sayles’ to the seashore and that Corny and 
her mother must be lonely. 

It was still and cool in the little parlor. Mrs. 
Roberts was busy and Corny was glad of her coming. 

But what has happened to you, Lois ? she cried, 
holding her fast by both hands. You have been ill. 
Tell me truly. You never looked like this before, 
dear, in all your life.'^ 

Lois sat down in a tall bamboo chair near Corny^s 
sofa, leaning heavily back. The smile she tried for 
would not come, but slow tears fell from her eyes. 
The reaction was at hand after the long-continued 
strain. 

I am clean forspent, forspent. Corny she said. 

Life has been too much for me the last little while. 
I meant to do so well, but I seem to have done every- 
thing wrongly. I think nobody ever made so many 
mistakes as I.’’ 

No, Lois, that is not so. You must have faith 
that God is helping you and doing his will through 
you since you truly want him to. What he gives us 
to do he helps us to do. Isn’t that sure ? ” 

“ I hope so. I am too tired to know.” 


CHAPTER Xyi. 


“This is a weary world, and some are tired of living ; 

So may the dear Lord go with thee 
Wherever mourners are ! Thou dost assuage their grieving ; 

Thou Invest all in misery — 

The old and gray who travel wearily, 

Each motherless little one, 

Mothers whose little ones are in the sky, — 

No pain is pain the while that thou art by ! ” 

— Theodore AuhaneV' 

^ ^ won’t you please, please stay ? I should think 
^ you would, Miss Lois; you are always kind 
to people who need" you.” 

But you do not need me, Gussie dear.” 

^^Yes, I do,” was the almost passionate answer; 
my mamma is dead and my papa is gone away.” 

But you have Gladys, and ” 

She is only little, just like me. She doesn’t know 
any more than I do. I want somebody big.” 

“ Then there is dear sister Rose.” 

She isn’t very dear, and besides, she is always 
thinking about something very particky-ler ! I don’t 

205 


206 


A LOYAL. HEART. 


know what it is, but it isn’t ws,” the child added, more 
pointedly than grammatically. 

Her cheeks were scarlet, and her eyes heavy, as she 
clung with both arms around Lois Fleming’s neck. 
They were in the bedroom of the two little girls, a 
spacious airy room with daintiest furnishings. It was 
early in the week following the stormy interview in 
the library. 

Hose came into the room now, and stood, her clasped 
hands dropped before her, looking on coldly. 

Lois got up, gathering the little girl in her arms, 
and carrying her to the pretty brass bedstead and lay- 
ing her gently down. We will see about it, Gussie,” 
she said. 

Had I better stay, do you think. Rose ? ” she asked 
in a low voice, as they came out into the hall together. 

There is certainly no need of your staying,” re- 
plied Rose, with a little formality ncAV to her in 
speaking with Lois, and it seems asking a great deal 
of you. I do not think Gussie is ill at all. She has 
simply played too hard and had more fruit than was 
good for her. I think Sophie and I ought to be able 
to do all that is necessary. It is very kind of you, 
Lois, to think of staying. Please do not think that 
I do not appreciate it.” 


.A LOYAL HEART. 


207 


Lois went back to Augusta. 

I think it is best for me to go home to-night, dear 
little girl/’ she said, tenderly, bending over the eager, 
feverish face, and finding the pathetic wistfulness of 
the eyes hard to bear ; but I will surely come again 
to-morrow, and when you are better I will bring Bee, 
my little busy Bee, to see you. How will that do ? ” 
Pretty well,” Gussie replied, hesitatingly. Lois 
kissed her, and having bidden Rose good-night, came 
away, sore and sick at heart. 

When Rose had read Lois’ note slipped into her 
hand that noonday which would always be remem- 
bered, she had received it with a strong, honest im- 
pulse to follow, in some degree at least, its suggestions. 
An hour later she had dispatched a letter which told 
the whole wretched story, and which said in sub- 
stance, Explain what all this means or consider our 
engagement at an end.” 

Lois found her during those first days quiet, gentle, 
silent, but approachable. Rose told her nothing of 
what she had done, never alluding of her own accord 
to what had passed between herself and Lois. Once she 
said : I am tiffing to do what is right, only I cannot 
talk about it.” This satisfied Lois to a degree, and 
she waited patiently. Then there came a letter to 


208 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Rose full of downright denial, protest and appeal to 
the promise she had given, to the devotion which was 
hers, and would be forever. Rose kept that letter 
with her night and day. She was not quite ready to 
answer it yet. 

Lois knew nothing of the reception of this letter, 
but she felt at once a subtle, indefinable change in 
Rose. It was not that she was really cold, it was not 
quite defiance, — the look in her face, the sound in her 
voice, — but it was a change which made Lois’ heart 
sink. 

She went home that night and dreamed all night of 
Gussie’s little arms about her neck and the pitiful 
pleading of her eyes. Early the next morning a car- 
riage from the Romeyns stopped at Mr. Fleming’s 
door, and a note was brought to Lois Ifom Rose. It 
said : 

Please come to us if you can. I am afraid Au- 
gusta is worse, and she is begging to have you come. 
I do not think she is very ill, but we can do nothing 
with her.” 

Oh, dear Lord, what art thou going to do with us 
to day ? Help me to do my part in fear and faith of 
thee.” So prayed Lois, as she drove in the freshness of 
the summer morning, through the quiet streets to the 


A LOYAL HEART. 


209 


great, unhappy house where she felt sure of only this, 
that suffering and painfulness awaited her. But she 
went without shrinking, staying her soul on God. 

Rose received her with a kiss and a word of grati- 
tude, in which Lois found comfort. 

How ill is she ? Lois asked. 

She had a restless night, and we had Dr. Howard 
before daylight. He is not at all alarmed about her, 
and says not to send for papa. It was a shame to 
make you come so early, but the poor little thing was 
so restless, and nothing could satisfy her until we told 
her we would send for you.’^ 

I am so glad you did,^’ cried Lois ; I dreamed 
of her all night. I believe I had a sense even in my 
sleep that she needed me.’^ 

Quieted by Lois’ coming, Gussie soon went to sleep, 
and the hours of the long summer day passed slowly 
by in the hush of the quiet room. Sophie, the nurse, 
came and went with all that was needed of service, 
and Rose often sat by the bedside for a little. Gussie 
paid scant attention to what thay did, so only Lois 
did not leave her. Twice the doctor came, with 
strong, assuring cheerfulness, giving them all a sense 
that there was nothing to fear. 

But while the day was outwardly a quiet and peace- 
o 


210 


A LOYAL HEART. 


ful one, Lois was possessed through every hour of it 
by a sense of dread and anxiety. A kind of fore- 
boding seemed in the very air. She could not look 
at th-e pallid face and hollow eyes of the sick child, 
whose sickness told rapidly upon her, without tears ; 
and as often as the soft rustle of silk told that Rose 
was corning into the room, she w^as seized with an 
inner trembling, the cause of which she could not 
explain. The anxiety which Rose really felt at length 
for her little sister was sufficient to make her gentle 
and subdued and more like herself than she had been 
for several days ; but beneath the surface was a pent- 
up excitement, an inner tumult, of which Lois, with 
her quick, spiritual perceptions, was distinctly con- 
scious, although how it was conveyed she could not 
tell. All day she prayed for the child and for Rose, 
the bodily sickness of the one and the danger to the 
soul of the other weaving a tangled, weary web within 
her brain. 

Lois hoped that she could go home after tea, but 
coming back to Gussie’s room, she saw plainly that 
her fever was rising and that she must remain until 
she was less restless and there should be some promise 
of sleep. It was a sultry evening, and already it was 
growing dark in the room. Lois sang softly a quiet 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


211 


hymn. Rose came in, looked at Gussie, but did not 
perceive the change in her which Lois’ more experi- 
enced eye had detected. She sat down by an open 
window, looking with weary eyes at the blood-red 
light with which the treetops were dyed from the 
setting sun, her head drooping on her hand. 

A housemaid came into the room with noiseless 
steps, bringing a small white envelope on a tray. 
This she handed to Rose, and quietly withdrew. 
Rose straightened suddenly from her languid attitude, 
opened the envelope and drew a card from it. Quietly 
replacing it after a glance, she rose from her place in 
the window and went out of the room and down stairs. 
It was certainly a most ordinary and commonplace 
incident, and yet it disturbed Lois vaguely. But no 
cloud was on the face bent over Gussie, and no falter- 
ing broke the quiet voice which soothed the suffering 
child that night when all else failed. 

“ The day is past and over, 

We lift our hearts to thee, 

And pray thee now that sinless 
The hours of dark may be. 

0 Saviour, keep us through the night, 

And guard us till the morning light.” 

So sang Lois, softly, tenderly, the little, hot hand 
in hers. 


212 


A LOYAL HEART. 


The child had fallen into a restless sleep. Lois 
scarcely dared move a finger lest she should disturb it. 
She grew weary of her cramped position on the edge 
of the bed, and at length ventured to slip back into a 
chair which stood close at hand, where she could still 
keep the little hand in hers and still continue the low, 
monotonous singing. Sitting thus, she heard some 
one — Rose she was sure — come up the stairs. It was 
a relief to Lois that her call was over so soon. She 
was growing anxious to consult her about Gussie, 
whether they should send for Dr. Howard ; to her 
the child seemed worse. The look in her face alarmed 
Lois, but perhaps unreasonably. She heard Rose, if 
it were she, pass through the hall to her own room 
and close the door. Then all was still. The minutes 
seemed hours to Lois. All the vague dread and pre- 
sentiment of trouble which had burdened her through 
the day seemed to take on new weight. She felt her 
heart beat loudly, and her hands trembled, hard as 
she sought to control her agitation. Should she go 
and call Rose ? How could she stay away from her 
little sister ? It was hard to bear this anxiety alone. 

But now some one entered the room. She looked 
up eagerly. It was only Sophie. She came and 
stood behind Lois’ chair, and whispered : 


A LOYAL HEART. 


213 


How does she seem now, Miss Fleming ? 

I am afraid she is growing worse, Sophie. I am 
very uneasy about her. I am sure her pulse grows 
quicker every moment, and I have given the medicine 
as often as I dared. Do you know where Miss Fo- 
rney n is ? I think you had better call her, perhaps.” 

I met her on the stairs as I came up. She had 
on her hat and was going out.” 

Lois turned quickly that Sophie might not see the 
change in her face. Her heart seemed to stand still 
for an instant. Rose going out without a word of 
explanation at a time like this ! What could it mean? 
She had gone very quietly. Lois had been listening 
tensely for every sound and had not heard her door 
open. 

Did Miss Romeyn say where she was going ? ” 

Lois whispered the question in a half-careless way. 
She did not choose that Sophie should detect her sur- 
prise. 

^^No, ma’am. But she said she should only be 
gone for a few minutes ; she felt that she needed the 
air.” 

The explanation sounded sufficiently natural. Lois 
knew perfectly that it was, in reality, wholly unnat- 
ural. She believed an hour of crisis had come for 


214 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Eosg, and there was no power in her hands to stay or 
break it. 

Sophie passed on into the adjoining dressing room 
to prepare fresh medicine. The last ray of daylight 
had faded and the room was full of shadows. Lois 
knelt in the dark by the bedside and prayed. She 
could not sing now. Her voice was stopped. 

O Father, take care of Eose,’’ her heart cried 
out ; shield her, if danger is near her ! Save her 
from all the powers of evil which may be brought 
around her just now. O Lord God, stretch out 
thine own arm to defend her, and suffer her not for 
any cause to fall away from thee.’’ 

Prayer meant everything to Lois Fleming. It 
meant God himself to the rescue in very truth that 
night. Believing this, she grew quiet again, and it 
was well she did, for there was need of quietness in 
the hour that followed. With unspeakable pity she 
watched the little face of the sick child. Her mother 
dead ; all the others gone away ; she alone, almost a 
stranger, to watch beside her in a time like this. All 
the motherliness which is in every good girl’s heart 
went out over the little creature in love and yearning. 

Gussie stirred uneasily again and opened her eyes. 
Lois’ face was on the pillow beside her ; she could see 


A LOYAL HEART. 


215 


even in the dusk the look in them. It was not Gus- 
sie’s look, but a kind of frightened, uncomprehending 
stare. Lois smoothed her forehead gently and began 
again her quiet song, but this time it did not avail. 
She saw with a kind of chill of dread the strange, 
involuntary working of the little hands. She dimly 
guessed what it might mean. With strong clasp she 
took them in her own. Suddenly they seized hers 
with convulsive clutching, and in a quick, broken 
way came the words : 

What is that ? What is it ? Quick ! Quick ! 
Oh, it frightens me ! ” 

Sophie came into the room, bringing a softly shaded 
lamp. She saw Lois standing by the bed Avith a face 
as white as its covering, and she saw the child. 

Call the doctor at once through the telephone,’’ 
Lois said to Sophie; her voice was low, but it had 
the clear sound of one who holds herself well in hand 
and can do what is to be done whatever the emergency. 

Tell him not to delay for a moment.” 

This being done, Sophie came back to the bedside 
and worked to Lois’ order swiftly and silently. Lois 
had passed through a scene like this years before, in 
the illness of her little sister. The end of that had 
been death. Was it coming now? There was not 


216 


A LOYAL HEART. 


time to think or even to pray, only as every breath 
seemed a prayer ; but Lois felt that there was another 
presence than their own in the room that night, and 
that the form of that other, could they have seen it, 
was like the Son of God. 

The delirium grew higher and more wild, and the 
convulsive threatening more painful to see for many 
minutes; but Lois worked wisely, and Sophie was 
experienced and quick to think. Gradually there was 
a relaxing of the muscles, a quieting of the dreadful, 
incessant motion ; the white eyelids drooped over the 
strained eyes, and a stillness followed like that of death. 

Lois plainly saw that it was the stillness of ex- 
haustion. She linew that the terrible manifestations 
might be renewed at any moment. Would the doctor 
never come ? It must be time ! Breathlessly she and 
Sophie hung over the bed, counting each second of 
quietness. Then a man’s step was heard in the hall, 
and some one came in. With a swift movement of 
relief unutterable, Lois turned with both hands out- 
stretched, exclaiming under her breath : 

You have come at last ! We have needed you.” 

The words were barely spoken when she drew back, 
seeing that it was not Dr. Howard who had entered. 

It was John Korney n. 


CHAPTER Xyil. 


“ Our faults no tenderness should ask, 

The chastening stripes must cleanse them all ; 
But for our blunders — oh, in shame. 

Before the eyes of heaven we fall ! 

“ Earth bears no balsam for mistakes ; 

Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool 
That did his will ; but thou, 0 Lord, 

Be merciful to me, a fool ! ” 


—E. R. Sill 



OIS had no time to be amazed at the unexpected 


-L* appearing of John Romeyn, whom she supposed 
to be across the ocean. There was no room for per- 
sonal feeling, for self-consciousness of any sort. She 
looked full into his face with solemn eyes, which 
seemed to search his to the uttermost with their 
imploring for help in this hour when danger and 
death seemed close about them. Neither spoke for 
a moment. Then, with her lip quivering in the old, 
childish way, which even in that hour John Romeyn 
found that he remembered, Lois said, softly : 

Can you tell me where Rose is ? 

Yes. She is in her room. She is coming now.” 


217 


218 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


And even as he spoke Lois heard the little rustle of 
Eose’s gown. 

Dr. Howard has just come in down stairs,” added 
John Romeyn. 

Lois turned back then to Gussie. No one saw the 
little gesture of her hand, as when one reaches out for 
the palpable touch of the one best beloved ; no one 
heard the voice in the girFs heart that was saying : 

Yes, Lord ; yes. Lord ; I knew that thou didst not 
forget. Thou hast been our help, and thou wilt be.” 

“ Speak to him, then, for he hears, and spirit with spirit can 
meet. 

Closer is he than breathing, and nearer than hands and 
feet.” 

The card which had been handed to Rose Romeyn 
bore the name oflenest in her thoughts, with the pen- 
ciled words : I must see you.” 

Meeting this visitor in the parlor below. Rose had 
said that she could not consent to an interview there. 
She feared observation, interruption. She feared to 
see him anywhere to speak to him, and yet when she 
saw him and heard his voice again, his power over 
her recovered its sway. She could hardly control the 
wild longing to throw all her wiser scruples and better 
impulses to the winds, and tell him she would follow 


A LOYAL HEART. 


219 


him anywhere, whether he could clear his character or 
not from the cloud which rested upon it. Outwardly, 
however, she bore herself proudly and with a cold 
dignity which enraged the man, and yet made her 
more beautiful in his eyes than she had ever been. 
In five minutes they had decided what to do. He 
would wait for her near the gate. She would join 
him there a little later, when it had grown darker, 
and would grant him an interview of ten or fifteen 
minutes while they should walk in the densely-shaded 
avenue. 

It will not take that time, Rose,^’ he said, proudly, 
to make you see how cruelly I have been wronged. 
You will know then that I am what you have always 
thought me.^^ 

And if that is so,’^ Rose replied, I am yours, 
now and forever.” 

With this he went away well satisfied, feeling that 
the day was nearly won. Who knows what might 
have resulted had that promised interview ever taken 
place? There are awful forces at work in human 
lives, unseen, unguessed in their working until the 
sudden wreck partly reveals them. Such forces w^ere 
astir that night in Rose Romeyn’s life. But Lois 
Fleming was praying, and God did not forget. 


220 


A LOYAL HEART. 


E-ose went to her room, her whole being in a tumult 
of excitement. Poor little Gussie was quite forgotten. 
Her anxiety had not been aroused at any time as had 
that of Lois, and she did not even consider at the mo- 
ment that she ought not to leave her now. She was 
thinking only of one person, wondering whether she had 
done wrong to see him at all, wondering whether she 
had not been cruel to see him so little and to treat 
him so coldly. What were all the wretched slanders 
people might hunt up against him, when once she saw 
him again and felt the strange magnetism of his 
presence ! Again that demon lifted up its head and 
said : Even if he is base, I would give myself to 
him.’^ 

Shut in her own room she waited, watching the day- 
light fade, impatiently. Never had twilight fallen so 
slowly. Once only there flashed through her mind a 
great honest repulsion from all this manner of action 
which must wait for darkness. It was foreign to her 
nature; she detested it, but she gave herself to it, 
nevertheless. 

It was fairly dusk when, with a hat and a shawl 
she had seldom worn, — this little trick too was hate- 
ful to her, — Rose passed quietly down the staircase, 
meeting Sophie on the way, and so to the front door. 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


221 


The sight of Sophie brought the sick room and little 
Augusta to her mind. Out of all the multitude of 
thoughts which might have come to her at such a 
moment, this alone came, a grim kind of suggestion 
since it brought no tenderness with it : If Au- 

gusta had a mother she would not be leaving her to- 
night to creep off and away into the garden for the 
sake of somebody else.^^ This she thought, and went 
on unmoved, and yet Kose Romeyn was a girl of warm 
and loving nature. Such is the havoc made in these 
hearts of ours when a sin indulged and not fought has 
entered in. As Buxton quaintly says : It is aston- 
ishing how soon the whole conscience begins to unravel 
if a single stitch drops ; one little sin indulged makes 
a hole you could put your head through.^^ 

Rose went out and closed the house door softly 
after her, but as she was about to descend the stone 
steps she stopped, arrested by the sound of approach- 
ing wheels. A closed carriage had passed through 
the gate and was being rapidly driven toward the 
house. How disastrous!” thought Rose. Thus do 
we often welcome the angels of deliverance God sends 
us. She paused irresolute. It was too late now to 
take a path into the side garden and so avoid being 
seen by whoever was in that carriage. She must ex- 


222 


A LOYAL HEART. 


cuse herself as best she could ; but that would hardly 
do, either. No ; she must await developments. And 
now the carriage had reached the house and was driven 
under the great cocker e. It was a gentleman who 

was leaving it, and a large satchel was taken out after 
him. Who could it be? Was it possible — could 
it be 

^^Well, little sister! You came out to meet me, 
did you ? That was very good of you, I am sure, con- 
sidering what a weather-beaten and totally unexpected 
pilgrim I am And by this time John Homey n had 
reached the step by her side and had his strong arm 
around her. 

All Rose’s perplexities vanished on the instant, like 
mists before a strong blast from the north. She hesi- 
tated no longer as to what course she should take. It 
was plainly useless, for the situation was beyond her 
control : nothing further could be done. Even in the 
recklessness of her mood that night. Rose felt some- 
thing like awe of the strange way in which her plan, 
which she did not believe was God’s plan for her, was 
broken. The latch-key was in her pocket, she opened 
the door and they went quietly into the house together. 
From the force of old habit they turned and went to 
the library, a quiet and secluded room, and there sat 


A LOYAL HEART. 


22a 


dowD, Rose answering John’s eager questions and 
meeting the tenderness of his feeling for all his own as 
well as she could after her long-continued habit of in- 
difference. Augusta’s illness was mentioned as a mat- 
ter of concern, but not of serious anxiety. No one 
heard them come in, or dreamed of the presence in the 
house of John Romeyn. He accounted to Rose for 
his sudden return by a general allusion to business 
matters of importance. He had sent no announce- 
ment of his coming because he liked to surprise the 
family, and wished not to interfere with their outing 
plans for the summer. He did not allude to a letter 
he had received from Rachel Barchet, nor to any sug- 
gestions or advice which it contained. 

^^By the way. Rose,” John Romeyn said, in a casual 
way, as they talked on, there was a man near the 
gate as I came in who looked so much like Durand of 
New York that I should have said it certainly Avas he 
if I had supposed it possible. You don’t know that 
man, of course ? ” 

I do not know whom you mean,” replied Rose, 
coldly, her very coldness suggesting a suspicion to her 
brother, who had up to this time no idea of why he 
had been advised to come home. Miss Bardlet’s letter 
having only said that she bclieA^ed he would do well 


224 


A LOYAL HEART. 


to come at once on Rosens account. I have met a 
gentlemen of that name/^ 

Was the name ISToel Durand ? Did the fellow 
call himself an artist ? 

^^Why, John/’ said Rose, with rising irritation, you 
must have known that our art teacher at Madame 
Leton’s was Professor Noel Durand.” And she 
colored deeply as she spoke the name. 

No, my dear girl, I never knew that fact until 
this moment. If I had, it would have been sufficient 
to have kept you from going to that particular school. 
It is incomprehensible to me that Madame Leton, 
shallow as she may be, should employ such a man, 
simply for her own sake.” 

Rose said nothing, and John Romeyn continued in 
a nonchalant way, as if it were a matter of no im- 
portance to them personally. 

Oh, yes, Durand is about the smallest pattern of a 
man I ever happened to see. I have known of his 
doing one or two of the meanest things that a man 
could do to men in his own profession. He has no 
standing whatever among artists, you know, not the 
slightest. He has no ability in the first place beyond 
a little superficial imitative craft, and he is known 
throughout artistic circles in New York as a man who 


A LOYAL HEART. 


225 


borrows money from every one he possibly can victim- 
ize^ and invariably fails to return it. We won’t waste 
our time in talking about him. He is thoroughly 
contemptible. I am amazed at his being employed by 
Madame Leton. I suppose it was understood every- 
where that he was not a gentlemen.” 

All the opposition of years, and the prayers and 
tears of all her friends could not have availed to ac- 
complish in Rose Romeyn the work which those few 
careless, impartial sentences wrought. Suddenly she 
saw her idol, stripped of the glamour with which her 
imagination had invested him, a man as he stood 
among his fellows, guilty of the fault a woman cannot 
forgive — meanness. She believed every w'ord that 
her brother spoke. In the strong and manly pres- 
ence of John Romeyn the character of that other man 
seemed to shrivel before her eyes. She knew John 
had no reason for depreciating Noel Durand, that he 
could have no suspicion of her relation to him. He 
was simply stating, all unconscious of their meaning 
to her, the facts in the case. She knew, herself, that 
the man borrowed money; that he had done it even 
from her: she knew there were weak points in the 
story of his misfortunes and in the defense he had 
been able to make against the charges which Rachel 

p 


226 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Barchet had brought against him. Thus far she liad 
forced herself not to believe them. At this moment 
she believed them all. Rose Romeyn could be clear 
of head and firm of hand on occasion. She was sud- 
denly struck by the pertinent fact that it was high 
time to end this affair. Perhaps it was her Romeyn 
pride which did tlie work, perhaps her conscience was 
aroused at last. Certain it was that, obeying the sud- 
den, safe instinct to be perfectly true at last, come 
what might, she rose, and standing close to her brother, 
said ; 

^‘ John, I must tell you that I was, — I am now 
perhaps, — I hardy know, — engaged to Professor Du- 
rand.” 

John Romeyn was silent fora full minute, in which 
he strove to master his profound indignation and dis- 
may. Then, at length, he said, very calmly, but in a 
tone which Rose had never heard but once or twice, 
when she had known him to be intensely moved. 

How many persons know it ? ” 

Two — Lois Flcmhig and Rachel Barchet.” 

That is better tlian T feared. Of course, you knew 
nothing of the fellow’s cliaracter. You have made a 
frightful blunder, Rose, but we will make the best we 
can of it. Do you give me full authority to dismiss 


A LOYAL HEART. 


227 


him, unconditionally and forever, forbidding him ever 
to attempt to see you again ! ” 

There was a little, strained silence. Looking up 
into her face, John Romeyn was shocked at its rigid 
whiteness. All the light had faded from the eyes 
which met his ; but her mouth was firm, and soon she 
held out her hand, saying under her breath : 

^^Do this forme, John.’’ 

He kissed her silently. There was no tear, no word 
to betray her pain, and in another moment she said, in 
a dull voice as of one physically benumbed : 

We must go up and see how Augusta is. I have 
been away too long.” 

As they were on the stairs, some one was admitted 
to the hall below ; Rose said it was the doctor and 
wondered why he came again. In the upper hall she 
turned away to be alone for a moment, leaving her 
brother to precede her to the sick room, which he 
entered, as we have seen, finding to his great surprise 
Lois Fleming in charge. 

One look was sufficient to show, both to John 
Romeyn and to Rose, the alarming condition of their 
little sister, and when Dr. Howard entered the room, 
he found pale faces and frightened eyes awaiting him. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


“ At dawn of Love, at dawn of Life, 
At dawn of Peace that follows Strife, 
At dawn of all we long for so ; 

The sun is rising — let us go.” 


— Louise Chandler Moulton. 


HE night which followed was one of dread and 



-L darkness for those who watched and worked 
around little Gussie Romeyn’s bed. Most of us are 
familiar with the throbbing silence, the stifling sus- 
pense, the intense but noiseless activities of a sick room 
where the shadow of death seems drawing near, but 
where a fierce fight for life is still waged. It is a too 
familiar tale, told out in most lives in its own time ; 
an experience full of heart-breaking pain, and yet with 
its own great ministry of grace to those who will 
receive it. 

To JohnRomeyn, to whom the little child was very 
dear, and who looked upon life and death with reverent 
seriousness, it was a night of tender and profound ex- 
perience. He met it gravely and calmly, and in a way 
which made him a tower of strength to all the rest. 
To Lois Fleming, the bitterness of death was already 


228 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


229 


past. Rose was with them and safe, and strong help 
had come. Even if God now took the soul of this 
little child to himself, in that she feared no evil. God^s 
work she could trust ; it was only the demoniac work- 
ing, the power of sin and its danger that made her 
tremble. Said I not unto thee that if thou couldest 
belief thou shouldest see the glory of God ? Lois 
believed, and saw through all the heartache of that 
night. 

But to Rose Romeyn there was no comfort such as 
the others found ; she felt no strong invisible Arm on 
which to lean, no sense of the mercy and tenderness of 
a Heavenly Father. She indeed felt God and his 
power that night, but he was to her only a God taking 
vengeance upon her for her sins. She believed that 
Augusta would die, but she believed her death would 
come as a sharp scourge to her for her waywardness, 
her unlovingness, her blind selfishness. She even felt 
herself to be the cause of the illness by the scant care 
and meagre attention she had given the child. She 
sounded the depths of remorse and self-accusation, 
prayerless, hopeless and aloof from the others in spirit. 
No one who saw her face that night ever forgot its 
look ; it was of utter, mute despair. 

The doctor remained with them through the night. 


230 


A LOYAL HEART. 


working manfully for the little life, which had all at 
once become of such nameless preciousness, now that 
it was in danger ; Sophie’s faithful service was indis- 
pensable, and Lois was his right hand. John Romeyn 
came and went. Rose sat at the foot of the bed, help- 
less, almost as if powerless to move. 

Toward midnight John Romeyn called the doctor 
out into the hall. 

What do you think will be the end ? ” he asked. 

I cannot tell. If her mind should be clear in the 
morning, I should have hope for her. You have tele- 
graphed your father ? ” 

Yes. I want you to send Miss Fleming out of the 
room now. Dr. Howard. She must have a few hours 
at least of rest. I find she has been with the child all 
day, and has been doing everything for her.” 

“ Yes, sir, everything ; and what is more, the right 
thing every time,” replied the doctor, concisely. 

You must see how tired she is. We have no right 
to demand such a sacrifice from her. I suppose there 
is a limit to her strength, if she is like most girls.” 

That is the point. Lois is made of sterner stuff 
than most girls. She can always do what she has to do, 
and she has a kind of elastic strength which helps her 
out where a different temperament would sink. Don’t 


A LOYAL HEART. 


231 


distress yourself about Lois. I will take care of her. 
She is one of my own girls, you know. IVe known 
her since she was a baby.’^ 

John Romeyn was silent for a little space, and Dr. 
Howard added : 

‘^And, in fact, I simply cannot do without her in 
the present condition of things. A change from her 
way with the child, which, as you see, is quiet and 
precisely what we need, to an unskilled and unsteady 
hand might turn the balance against us.’^ 

But she cannot continue this strain much longer. 
How about to-morrow ? 

Dr. Howard considered a moment, and then replied ; 
I suppose we shall have to fall back upon a nurse 
from the hospital. They will send you a fairly good 
one from there, if they send any. I confess I hate to 
trust the child in the hands of any one during the 
next twenty-four hours who cannot be absolutely 
relied upon, but I suppose we must take our chances. 
I tell you, Mr. Romeyn, it is only women of brain, 
w’omen of fine, sensitive perceptions and self-control, 
like Lois Fleming, who can really make nurses.” 
And the doctor turned back to the sick room, with 
an inward groan at the incompetence which he had 
learned to dread by frequent experience. 


232 


A LOYAL HEART. 


John Romeyn called up the sleepy coachman, took 
the carriage, and drove off across the city to the 
hospital. 

The night wore on with its painful alternations of 
watching the intervals of rest for the little sufferer 
and struggling with the attacks of agonized excite- 
ment. Gradually the force of the latter seemed to 
be spending itself ; they grew less frequent, but the 
pulse became weaker, the face more sunken and death- 
like. Lois and Rose looked on with sinking hearts. 

“John is gone so long,” Rose whispered, in a fright- 
ened way. She had hardly spoken through the long 
night watches. The gray dawnlight was coming now. 
“ He has been gone two hours.” 

“ I think I hear him coming in now,” said Lois. 
In her heart she thought it might have been a need- 
less errand. 

Rose had crossed now to the open window, where 
Lois had gone for a breath of outer air. The early 
morning hour was bringing a faint, sick feeling over 
her, which she feared, and against which she was 
fighting. She looked up to see Rose standing at her 
side, with a face drawn with suffering, and terrible in 
its tense, unnatural expression. 

“ Lois,” she whispered, “ if Augusta dies, I shall 


A LOYAL HEART. 


233 


lose my reason. I have killed her. I have been 
wicked and heartless, and this is my punishment. 
But she is a little, innocent child. It is I who ought 
to die. Will you, oh, Lois, will you ask God, every 
breath you breathe, to take my life instead ? I want 
to die. I wish I were dead already.’^ 

Hush, Rose,^^ whispered Lois, you speak as if 
God did not love us ! Gussie is safe in his keeping, 
and so are you. He knows which is best, life or 
death. We can trust him.’’ 

Just then John Romeyn came into the room, hag- 
gard and hollow eyed. They all looked to each other 
like ghosts in this gray morning light. He had gone 
to the hospital and to many other places, back and 
forth in the sleeping city, in vain endeavor to find 
what he sought. At last he had secured a nurse, 
experienced and good, but she could not come before 
nine o’clock that morning. 

He went to the side of the bed, and stood long 
looking at the sick child, listening to her quick, pant- 
ing breath, touching her tangled hair softly. The 
tears came to his eyes as he stood thus, but he did not 
heed them. The moments passed slowly and heavily. 
A quivering motion which they had learned to dread 
passed over the exhausted little frame. With a great 


234 


A LOYAL HEART. 


yearning, hardly to be resisted, John Korney n put 
both his arms around her, so as to hold her fast. 
Turning toward the doctor, he said, huskily ; 

May I take her ? 

The doctor only nodded, the sadness of his face 
telling his thought that nothing could be likely to 
harm her now. He had given her a few drops of an 
anaesthetic, but he hoped little from its effect. 

Then John Korney n stooped and gathered her in 
his strong arms, and, holding her fast, all her pretty, 
fair hair falling across his breast, he walked with slow, 
careful steps up and down the room. Lois wrapped 
a shawl around the slender little limbs, moving with 
him as he walked until she had made it fast ; then 
they stood and watched. 

The child seemed quieted by the change of position 
and the firm pressure of the arms which held her. 
Perhaps too the motion of walking soothed her for a 
time. She lay quite motionless, apparently asleep, 
for nearly half an hour, during which John Korney n 
paced the floor without interruption. Then, while 
they all held their breath, the eyes were opened, and 
Gussie looked up into the face which bent over her. 

This time the look was her own look, quick and 
natural. There was no surprise manifested, — she was 


A LOYAL HEART. 


235 


too weak for that, — but plainly she knew who it was 
that held her. She made a pitiful little attempt to 
reach up and touch his face with one hand. He bent 
his head low over her, and gently kissed the white, 
little fingers. Then she murmured, with a faint smile : 

Big brother.^^ And closing her eyes again, seemed 
to fall asleep. 

John Romeyn walked on, and so an hour passed. 
Hr. Howard listened to her breathing and laid his 
finger on the little wrist at intervals. Once, after 
doing this, he turned to Lois, and with a change of ex- 
pression which was like sunshine after storm, he said : 

It is sleep this time. There is a chance for her 
yet.'' 

Hope came with the morning light, and like it, in 
slow, almost imperceptible degrees. It was broad 
daylight when Gussie opened her eyes again and said, 
feebly, but still in her own voice : 

^^Now I want to go to bed." 

This request being complied with, the child looked 
up with a sudden eagerness, and said : 

Give me Mildred Lilian." 

Nothing that she could have said perhaps would 
have meant quite all of pathos, of joy, of returning hope 
that came with this unexpected request. They laughed 


2o6 


A LOYAL HEART. 


and cried together. Mildred Lilian was her best 
loved and cherished doll, for whom even this carefully 
selected name was unworthy. To want her meant 
that the child was her childish self again, returning to 
the old, childish conditions, taking up life again, they 
dared hope, where she had dropped it. 

Every one in the room turned instinctively to find 
Mildred Lilian, but no one knew where she might be. 
But unknown to them all, a lonely little white figure 
was crouching just outside the threshold of the door, 
and in another instant, Gladys, whom every one had 
forgotten, glided into the room in her white nightgown, 
holding the doll in her hands, and going swiftly to 
Gussie, laid the treasure in her arms. 

A smile of satisfaction touched the little face of the 
sick child, as she tried to press her darling baby, 
as she called her, in her nerveless arms. She took 
without demur the spoonful of nourishment which 
they gave her, and then with relaxed limbs, in strong 
contrast to the rigid attitude in which she had lain 
through the night, she actually, as Lois said to Sophie, 

cuddled down to sleep.” 

The doctor now beckoned to them to leave the room, 
all except Sophie. In the hall he gave directions in 
brief; 


A LOYAL HEART. 


237 


You, Lois, go home as quickly as you can get 
there and go to bed. There is a powder to help you 
to sleep. This gentleman from abroad who has hardly 
had a chance yet to know what terra jirma feels like 
can be excused now. You’d better rest a couple of 
hours, Mr. Romeyn, before your father comes. Now 
then, I must get home, for it is time I was in my 
office. The nurse will be here in an hour. I will leave 
directions for her with Sophie, and will return myself 
at ten o’clock. The worst is over now, I think.” 

May I stay with Gussie until the nurse comes ? ” 

It was Rose who spoke. 

The doctor looked at her kindly, pitying her for the 
suffering which was so plainly shown in her face. 

Certainly,” he said, that is quite the right 
thing.” And without waiting for further ceremony, he 
was off. 

After one parting look at Gussie, whose even breath- 
ing was the sweetest music she could have heard, Lois 
found her hat where she had left it in the early morning 
of yesterday, which seemed now a world away, and 
kissing Rose silently, and giving Sophie a few last 
words of suggestion, she descended the stairs, dizzy 
and faint in body, but strong and glad of heart. 

John Romeyn was waiting for her in the hall below, 


238 


A 1.0 YAL HEART. 


and followed her to her carriage which stood before 
the house. Having taken her seat in it, Lois was sur- 
prised to find that he intended entering it after her. 

Oh, do not, please,’^ she protested ; it is so utterly 
unnecessary, and I know you are very tired.” 

He only smiled, and took his place in the carriage, 
bidding the cabman go to Mr. Fleming’s. Lois leaned 
back in her place, too tired for many words, but still 
trying to protest that she could have gone alone just 
as well. 

You are to be taken care of. Miss Fleming,” John 
Romeyn said, with grave kindness. Please give us the 
privilege of doing the little that we can. You have 
become the guardian angel of our house. Now shut 
your eyes, like a good girl, and forget everything.” 

I would rather be called a good girl than an 
angel,” murmured Lois, sleepily ; and closing her eyes 
she forgot everything, according to John Romeyn’s in- 
junction, and slept like a child until she reached her 
father’s door. 

Then came the endless comfort of her mother’s care ; 
of being fed and petted, and undressed and put to bed 
in her own quiet little room, of knowing that she was 
falling asleep among cool, fresh pillows, and then of 
knowing no more. 


A J.OYAL HEAET. 


239 


In the room which Lois had left, Rose Romeyn sat 
alone by her little sister’s side. Sophie, exhausted 
with the severe strain of the night, had fallen asleep 
on the sofa. All the others had gone. There was 
time to think now, to try and follow out the weary 
tangles of her brain. But it was all so confused ; 
nothing was plain to her but the bitterness of her self- 
upbraiding for Gussie’s sake. How hard of heart she 
had been to the tender, fragile child ! how careless of 
the love which would have been so lavishly given her 
had it not been so coldly received ! The children 
should have been a sacred trust to her, but how false 
she had been to the trust, how disloyal, how wickedly 
selfish! Gussie had turned to Lois for a little of the 
tenderness which she had lost when her mother left 
her, for Mrs. Romeyn had loved her children intensely, 
whatever may have been her faults. 

Oh, my little darling sister,” Rose cried out in 
her heart, if you will only live, I will be good and 
true to you, and you will forgive me, and some time, 
perhaps, you will love me.” 


CHAPTER XIX. 


“Lord, for tlie erring thought 
Not into evil wrought, — 

Lord, for the wicked will 
Betrayed and baffled still, — 

For the heart from itself kept. 

Our thanksgiving accept.” 

— William Dean Howells. 

R achel BAECHET was sitting before the table 
in her dining room, sorting over boxes, arrang- 
ing papers, and glancing at letters which she destroyed 
or laid aside for future reference with business-like 
rapidity. Two trunks, half packed, stood near her, 
having been brought to this room as the coolest in the 
house. Miss Barchet wore a loose lawn robe, and 
looked less vigorous than her wont. It was a warm 
morning in early August ; the close heat was oppress- 
ive, and she had not fully regained her strength since 
the illness which followed her exertions in Rose Ro- 
meyn’s behalf. 

As she sat thus working, her mother came in from 
a marketing expedition, with a small and unostenta- 
tious basket on her arm. She had carried her point 
240 


A LOYAL HEART. 


241 


about going to market herself during EachePs illness, 
and had established the basket as one of the family 
institutions. Seeing that she really enjoyed the new 
arrangement, Eachel forbore to interfere, being well 
past the point of anxiety as to what people would say, 
which is the cause of so much superfluous friction in 
this world. 

Well, mother,’^ Eachel said, cheerfully, ^Mt is a 
warm morning for going to market. Are you tired ? 

No, I ain’t tired,” returned Mrs. Barchet, setting 
her basket down on the table and dropping into the 
nearest chair, but I’m middlin’ well het up. I got 
a lift cornin’ home.” 

Mrs. Barchet wore her usual plain black gown, 
with a little shawl over her shoulders, and a large 
black bonnet of the style which is called drawn.” 

That was nice, I am sure. Who lifted you ? ” 

^^Mrs. Eandolph.” 

^^Did she?” Eachel smiled involuntarily at the 
thought of the quaint figure of her mother in Mrs. 
Eandolph’s shining cabriolet, but she was well pleased. 

Yes. I’d got my meat, a good rib piece to roast, 
down in the kettle, and these beans to stew, and a 
quart of blackberries, — folks have to eat, I notice, if 

they be a goin’ to the seashoi'e, — and I was cornin’ 
Q 


242 


A LOYAL HEART. 


along home, and the sun was blazin’ down pretty well. 
I see that Mrs. Parry cornin’ toward me, and Mrs. 
Randolph, — her team was close by, — so I -wondered 
which I’d better bow to first. Mrs. Parry was holdin’ 
her parasol up in a dreadful stylish kind of way, and 
trippin’ along in her muslin gown. She saw me in the 
distance, and she saw Mrs. Randolph too, and I think 
she was considerable bothered in her mind about 
speakin’ to me. 1 suppose I looked like a kind o’ 
queer old body ; at all events, she don’t wear this kind 
of bonnet, and don't never carry a basket, I guess. 
She was just passin’ me with a kind of easy nod that 
nobody ’d notice much, and was gettin’ up a real 
pretty smile and good-morning for Mrs. Randolph, — 
kind o’ fluttering all over, you know, — when Mrs. 
Randolph, what does she do, but drive right up to 
the side of the road and lean out of her carriage quite 
a ways and call, ^ Mrs. Barchet.’ 

Mrs. Parry, I guess, she thought at first it was 
on her account she was stoppin’, and she looked real 
pleased, but in a second she saw that it was me that 
was goin’ to have the ride ; and then you’d ought to 
have seen what pains she took helpin’ me in, though 
I didn’t need no help, but it was real nice the way 
she did it.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


243 


Rachel laughed merrily at her mother’s description. 

That Mrs. Parry, I tell you now, is a smart 
woman,” Mrs. Barchet went on; don’t say but 
what she may be kind o’ schemin’, — Lois thinks she 
is, — and 1 guess she does like to put the best foot 
forward pretty well. But that ain’t sayin’ she’s dis- 
honest, and I don’t think she is. She ain’t deep. I 
shouldn’t never expect she’d go to the stake nor as a 
missionary to heathen lands, like that woman I heard 
talk to Mrs. Flemin’s, but in my opinion she’s a 
good-hearted woman.” 

believe you are right, mother,” said Rachel, 
rising and going into the library with a package of 
papers she had been tying together. 

You must tell Lois what you think about Mrs. 
Parry, some time. She does not quite do her justice,” 
she added, coming back to the dining room. 

^L4.in’t it time Lois was cornin’? I thought she 
was to be here at nine o’clock this mornin’, to kind o’ 
talk over the last things there was to see to.” 

Yes, I expect her, and that is probably she who 
is ringing now.” And Miss Barchet stepped through 
the little hall and opened the door, finding Lois, as 
she expected. 

Well, dear,” she said, leading her into the library. 


244 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


“ how do you endure this weather ? It wilts me 
utterly, but you look as fresh as a white rose/^ 

Lois wore a white gown of thin, unwrinkled linen, 
with coolj little hemstitched frills at the throat and 
wrists, and a pale pink ribbon around her waist. 
There was delicate color in her cheeks, and her eyes 
were bright with health and happiness, under the 
broad brim of her white-plumed hat. 

“ You have a way of always looking cool, Lois,” 
said her friend, surveying her fondly, as they sat 
down by the cool hearth in the darkened room. 

How do you manage it ? ” 

I donT know,” said Lois, unless by not think- 
ing much about it, anyway. Well, how do you get 
along with your preparations ? I am afraid they are 
too much for you. You look tired out.” 

No, I am working slowly and shall rest through 
the middle of the day. I shall be able to start to- 
morrow. You can count upon that, my dear.” 

Lois Fleming, is that you ? ” called a voice from 
the dining room. 

Yes, Mrs. Barchet, it is I ! Do you wish to 
see me ? ” 

Of course I do. You’d better come out here, 
anyway. It’s much cooler than it is in that room.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


245 


Kachel and Lois obeyed the summons, and went 
into the dining room, where they found Mrs. Barchet 
as erect and uncompromising as ever, yielding not an 
inch to the oppression of the heat, as she sat by the 
window, at work. 

Knitting as usual, even in this weather said 
Lois. 

No, I ain’t knittin’. I’m just runnin’ the heels of 
these stockin’s so’s they’ll stand better the walkin’ in 
the sand and stones. I suppose it’s awful rough there 
where we’re goin’, don’t you ? I can’t never speak 
the name.” 

At Quinconnet ? — ^yes,” replied Lois, sitting down 
by the table. Nothing but rocks and water and a 
little bit of sandy beach ; but we have it all to ourselves, 
and I think the cottage must be lovely. Isn’t the 
name pretty, — Falaise? Mr. Romeyn drew a plan 
of it for us last night. You know he has been 
down there with the servants, getting everything in 
order.” 

Have they decided what day they will start ? ” 
asked Rachel. 

Yes. To-morrow is Wednesday, when we go. 
They will follow on Friday, giving us two days to 
get to living. They are so pleased with the idea of 


246 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Quinconnet. Eose would not go to Newport, and she 
could not be separated from the little girls.’^ 

‘‘ They feel sure that Augusta will be able to stand 
the journey this week ? 

“ Oh, yes. I have no more fear about that, since I 
saw her last evening. It is wonderful how fast she is 
gaining. Her cheeks are really pink, and her eyes are 
losing that dreadful, cavernous look they had. It is 
pretty to see them all doing for her in such a tender 
way ; and do you know, Eachel, I believe that Gussie’s 
illness is going to unite that family, as perhaps noth- 
ing else would have done. You know it always 
seemed to be made of such different elements. No two 
in the family had the same interests, except perhaps 
Gladys and Gussie. Eose and her brother were so 
much older, and away from home a great deal, and I 
think Mr. Eomeyn has always been at a distance from 
them since his marriage.^^ 

John Eomeyn was always very lovely to the little 
girls, Lois.” 

do not know of course about that, but they seem 
very fond of him, certainly. But Mr. Eomeyn’s 
tenderness not only to Gussie, but to all of his children, 
is something really beautiful. You know one would 
not quite expect that kind of thing from him. He is 


A LOYAI. HEAET. 


247 


apt to be a little unapproachable, and absorbed in 
business matters/^ 

Yes/’ replied Rachel, that has been too much 
the case.” 

How’s Rose ? ” asked Mrs. Barchet, with her 
accustomed abruptness. 

A little cloud passed over Lois’ face. Mrs. Bar- 
chet knew nothing of the especial anxieties for Rose 
wRich her daughter had been carrying of late, but she 
seemed to have a burden for the girl on her heart, and 
to keep a watchful interest over all that befell her. 

I think Rose is very tired,” Lois replied, with 
a little hesitation ; but she is very pleasant and 
gentle.” 

Mellerin’ up some, is she ? ” rejoined Mrs. Bar- 
chet. “ Kind o’ took the kinks out of her, didn’t it, 
havin’ Augusta so sick ? The Lord knows what he’s 
about. You needn’t worry but what he’ll bring 
somethin’ good out of Rose Romeyn after a while. 
She’s got more to her than folks think. I’ve told 
you before that it is agin her, bein’ so han’some ; and 
then, she’s never ben put to work, as she’d ought to 
have ben. But you know what it says in the Bible, 
‘ When thy father and thy mother forsake thee, the 
Lord will take thee up’ ; I’ve seen that come true be- 


248 


A LOYAL HE ALT. 


fore now. When folks don’t do their duty by their 
children, and let them git • their head and go as they 
please, then the Lord just takes a hold and brings 
them to terms himself. When he puts out his hand 
things have got to straighten out and no mistake. 
There ain’t no use fightin’ against him, and as soon as 
Rose once fairly gives into the Lord, she’ll find out 
that his hand that’s laid upon her is jest as kind as it 
is strong. The thing I’m prayin’ for in particular 
now is that she won’t hold out much longer and have 
to go through a great deal more sufferin’.” 

Lois and Rachel listened gravely to Mrs. Bar- 
chet. 

I remember what you said to me one day, months 
ago, about the best thing for Rose,” Lois remarked 
after a little space. 

What was that ? ” asked Mrs. Barchet, looking up 
sharply over the rim of her glasses. 

Don’t you remember ? — ^ the fire and the whirl- 
wind, and after that the still small voice.’ ” 

Yes. It kind o’ comes back to me now, that I 
did say that.” 

I think Rose has been through the fire and the 
whirlwind,” said Rachel Barchet, quietly ; now we 
will hope for the ‘ still, small voice.’” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


249 


It’ll come,” said Mrs. Barcliet. You jest wait.” 
Then with a sudden change of thought to the practical 
matters which were just now on her mind, she asked : 

Say, was you plannin’ to take lunch to-morrow, 
to eat on the cars ? It ain’t nothin’ to do with Rose 
Romeyn, I know, but I was afraid I’d forget if I didn’t 
speak now. I wanted to tell you that you needn’t take 
nothin’. I’ve got vittles enough cooked, for what you 
and the young one will eat, and I’ll see to all that 
myself I shan’t take much sweet cake, — that ain’t 
what folks ought to eat when they’re travelin,’ — but 
there’ll be plenty of good bread and butter, enough for 
all, and I’m* roastin’ down a piece of meat, more’n 
we’ll eat to-day on purpose.” 

That is very kind, thank you,” said Lois, cor- 
dially, rising to go. Oh, Rachel,” she continued, 
drawing a letter from her pocket, I am so pleased 
and so surprised too at a letter I had this morning 
from Louise Roberts ; I must tell you about it. You 
know she is still at the seashore with the Sayles’, and 
of course she is having a lovely time, only all the 
while there has been, I know, a drawback to her 
happiness, in leaving her mother and Corny at home 
alone.” 

How is Corny ? I have not heard lately.” 


250 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Very poorly, I fear. I do not feel happy about 
her. I am going around there now. Well, you see, 
Rachel, it was in a way a hard position for Louise ; 
you know there are little bothers that one hardly 
speaks of, but I think I quite understand that Louise 
hoped Mrs. Sayles would invite her mother and Corny 
for a week or two of the summer, but the invitation 
has not come. I know Louise has fretted a good deal 
to be ofP enjoying herself while they were in the city 
through all the heat of the summer, and yet of course 
she could do nothing about it, and they would not 
hear of her coming home. She was exceedingly tired 
when school closed, you know.” 

“ Yes, I know she was.” 

Well, at last somebody has invited Mrs. Roberts 
and Corny, and it is not Mrs. Sayles. What is more, 
it is the last person in the world to do it. I will tell 
you, for you would never guess. It is Mrs. James 
Parry. She has taken a cottage on Still Lake, — a 
lovely place, you know, — and she has asked Mrs. 
Roberts and Corny to spend two weeks in August 
there. Isn’t it lovely for them ? ” 

Yes, I am very glad. It is just like Mrs. Parry. 
She is one of the kindest women I know. And, you 
see, her sister is very fond of Corny. I am not at all 


A LOYAL HEART. 


251 


surprised, Lois,’’ Miss Barcbet added, with especial 
emphasis. 

Lois looked a little puzzled, and her face flushed 
while her friend was speaking. 

One more lesson for me,” she said, soberly ; to 
think that Mrs. Parry should do what no one of dear 
Corny’s old friends have done for her. It hurts 
me. I can’t help it, and it makes me ashamed. I 
know I should have planned for Corny myself, 
but I have been so absorbed in many other ways 
that I hardly realized how seriously she was needing 
the change.”' 

^‘You have enough on your shoulders, my dear 
child. I am as glad as I can be that Mrs. Parry has 
undertaken this. It will be a real blessing to her, 
besides all it will do for Corny and Mrs. Roberts. 
It is a good deal to do to entertain an invalid, and it 
pleases me to have Mrs. Parry do it.” 

^^It amazes me,” rejoined Lois. ^^It puts Mrs. 
Parry at an entirely new angle.” 

They were in the little hall now, Lois having started 
to go. 

You have never understood her perfectly, perhaps, 
or you would be less surprised,” Miss Barchet said, 
significantly. 


252 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Lois looked up into her face with a tremulous little 
smile. 

am discouraged with myself, Rachel/^ she said, 
humbly ; after a while, perhaps, I shall learn better, 
if 1 try hard, — do you think ? 

Rachel smiled down upon the sensitive iace of the 
girl in loving sympathy. 

There is nothing to fear for a loyal heart like 
yours, Lois. Tliat is what makes people safe, unless 
they are very stupid, and so never perceive the truth 
of things. Fortunately, you are not very stupid.” 

Thank you,” said Lois, lifting her face to be 
kissed. ‘‘I wish I were sure of that. But now I 
must run.” 

Just a minute, please,” said Rachel, with her hand 
on the door knob. How is Rose, really ? ” 

Oh, dear,” sighed Lois, I do not know ! She 
looks as if she had been turned into stone, Rachel. 
It breaks my heart to see her. You have talked with 
John Romeyn ? ” 

Yes. He is so thankful that he came. What a 
mercy, Lois, that I had the little hint from you that 
night in June and wrote that letter. I was afraid 
when I did it that I was doing a foolish, and perhaps 
unjustifiable, thing, but, — well, — I asked to be shown 


A LOYAL HEAR^. 


253 


what to do, and that seemed to be put before me. I 
did not tell you what I had done because I thought 
his coming so doubtful.’’ 

It is such a surprise to me still, and I can hardly 
understand how it all came about. What could you 
write when you knew nothing? I did not speak 
Rose’s name, nor mean for you to guess that it w^as 
she of whom I spoke.” 

I knew, dear, but I knew instinctively, — I sup- 
pose from my own anxiety for her for many months. 
I only wrote to John Romeyn that I thought he was 
needed at home at once.” 

What a blessed thing that you did, Rachel. What 
would have happened if he had not come just when 
he did? It frightens me when I think of it. It 
always seems to me as if the powers of evil were all 
abroad that night.” 

^^Do not think of it. It is needless. John Ro- 
meyn did come. You know ^ God is not too late.’ 
You are sure the whole miserable affair is ended, 
Lois ? There is no lingering wish with Rose to have 
anything further to do with that man ? ” 

Oh, no ! I am sure there is nothing of that. 
The break was final, and he is too cowardly to try to 
approach her again. She is so far safe. There seems 


254 


A LOYAL HE ALT. 


to be nothing left Avith Rose but a kind of blank 
horror of the position in Avhich she has placed herself, 
and a sense of humiliation which makes me pity her 
unspeakably. If she could only get through with 
this phase of it, Rachel, and go on to something better ! 
There is nothing good in this, that I can see, and it 
makes me fear for her.^’ 

It is simply inevitable Avith her temperament that 
she should pass through a time like this, and I believe 
it has its uses. Do not be impatient, Lois ; spiritual 
processes are sIoav. God and time are great factors. 
Another thing, John Romeyn is a poAver. He is a 
profoundly religious man. His nature is strong and 
large, and the influence of it is just what Rose needs 
to restore the moral balance she has lost. You do 
not know John Romeyn yet, Lois.’’ 

No, I do not know him,” Lois replied. I have 
been there very little since his return. Noav I am 
going. We meet to-morrow morning at the station, 
at eight o’clock. Auf Wiedersehen ! ” 


CHAPTER XX. 


“No evil is hopeless, except the evil we love and desire to 
continue in, and make no effort to escape from .” — George 
Eliot 

“ Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that mak- 
eth deep furrows on my soul ? I know he is no idle husband- 
man. He purposeth a crop.” — N. Rutherford. 

“Help thou my darkness. Lord, till I am light.” — J. H. 
Newman. 



lALAISE ! 


Spiced sweetness of pines in the air ; the musical 
dash of waves upon the hard, white beach ; the red 
cottage with wide verandas and fluttering awnings 
just above ; on one side masses of rock, mossy, weather- 
beaten, covered thick around their base with sea weed, 
and dashed about with spray ; on the other side the 
high, naked clifl* with the path along its edge to the 
little Ashing village of Quinconnet, a mile away, strag- 
gling in an accidental, easy-going fashion around tlie 
shore of the shallow cove. Up on the clifl* there are 
sun-dried grass, and golden rod, and berry brambles 
with wine-red leaves here and there already to tell 
that summer is now fully ripe. Up there the world 


255 


256 


A LOYAL HEART. 


feels bigh, and wide and open^ under the great un- 
broken dome of sky ; butterflies flutter over the cliff 
edge against the endless blue of the sea ; grasshoppers 
and crickets keep up their small, incessant stir and 
sound through the heated stems of grasses and weeds ; 
small children in calico aprons wander now and then 
along the path ; the homely, simple life of common 
things lying close against the unthinkable depths and 
reaches of the ocean, as our little lives do evermore 
upon the edge of God’s infinities. 

Something like this Lois Fleming was thinking as 
she walked along the cliff, coming back to Falaise, 
from the village. There was rest, complete to her in 
the expanse of water and sky. All the small, personal 
perplexities and cares, which had made so much of 
life of late, seemed suddenly to vanish and fade out of 
sight. Half unconsciously she murmured over to 
herself Mrs. Browning’s lines ; 

“And I smiled to think God’s greatness flowed around our 
incom pleteness, — 

Round our restlessness, his rest.” 

Thinking thus, with the spirit of the thought rest- 
ing like sunshine on her face, Lois reached the steep 
bit of path which led down from the cliff, to the grove 



A Loyal Heart. 


4 


Page 256« 


u*- 



A LOYAL HEART. 


267 


of pine trees, and to Falaise. Some one was climbing 
up the path. It was J ohn Romeyn. He had come 
down with Rose and the little girls and Sophie the 
day before. This morning he was going back. He 
met the look in Lois’ eyes, surprising it before it had 
time to escape, with his own fmnk smile, and reaching 
the path by her side, he held out his hand, saying : 

I am going now. Will you shake hands with me 
for once ? I have never dared ask so great a favor 
before.” 

Some subtle change had come over Lois as soon 
as she saw John Romeyn. He always felt it in her 
when he approached. A certain coldness and reserve 
which neither he nor she herself could overcome fell 
between them at once, when they were together. He 
had been wanting to talk with her alone ever since his 
return, but she had carefully avoided giving him a 
chance to do so. Now it was his, unless she positively 
refused it. 

Of course I will shake hands with you,” Lois said. 

When do you come again ? ” 

Next week I hope. Miss Fleming, may I have 
a word with you before I go? I have something of 
which I am very anxious to speak.” 

Lois turned, for answer, and walked slowly back 
j: 


258 


A LOYAL HEART. 


along the path she had come. The gravity and dignity 
of her look and way were in strong contrast to the 
childlike happiness which had been upon her wdien 
he saw her first. He could not tell which became her 
best. Whether grave or gay, he thought her the 
sweetest woman he had ever seen. 

There is an old trouble — perhaps the word is 
not too strong, Miss Fleming — in our lives. It is not 
easy to speak of it, but it is harder to be silent. You 
have not forgotten the old days when we played to- 
gether ; I hope you have not quite.’’ 

^^No, I have never forgotten my childhood,” said 
Lois, frankly ; it was such a happy one. I should be 
sorry to forget it.” 

“ Then, you know,” John Romeyn continued, with 
a gentle tone, as one who fears to touch a wound, 
between your family and ours there came a break.” 
Lois only nodded, the quick flush in her cheeks tell- 
ing of the pain that came with the thought he had 
stirred to life. 

It has been hard perhaps for you to forgive what 
was done of wrong and injustice. It has been hard 
for me. I think I can say this at last. I never felt 
that I could, through all the years that have passed, — 
you will understand. To me your generosity in com- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


259 


ing to my sister when she needed you, throwing aside 
all the feeling which you must have had, being 
human,” — and he smiled, — “was one of the things 
which we fail to describe in any words, until we name 
the one underlying power which makes them possible. 
1 mean the love of Christ.” 

They walked on in silence for a few steps. The 
tears had sprung to Lois’ eyes. 

“ Being so great a thing as this, for I think it is 
right to call the work you have done ^ divine service,’ 
it is hardly a thing to praise or even to thank you for. 
It is quite beyond that.” 

“ I have only done what was perfectly natural to 
do,” Lois said, very low. 

“Natural for you, yes,” returned John Romeyn, 
“for I think, to use Whittier’s words, ^all things 
sweet and good seem your natural habitude.’ Be 
thankful. Miss Fleming, for an inheritance and a life 
which make loyalty to right and truth the only 
natural thing. Do not forget that all natures are not 
like your own. You will not think I am seeking to 
praise you, — that is not in my thoughts; I am simply 
speaking of things that are, and which my sister and 
I have reason to thank God for. Now may I go 
back, for just a moment, to the old trouble?” 


260 


A LOYAL HEART. 


^^Yes.” 

It lias come to me only lately that it might have 
seemed to you, and possibly even to your father, that 
at the time of his leaving the bank and returning to 
it, I should have expressed my own feeling of pro- 
found regret and indignation at the course pursued. 
Did you ever feel this ? 

“Yes, I did feel it.’^ 

“ Thank you for being so frank. I am glad now 
that I ventured at last to touch the thing which 
seemed so hard to touch. My own feeling was simply 
this. Miss Fleming : Your father is to me a man of 
most unusual and commanding character. Ev^er since 
I was a boy, I have looked up to him with a strong 
feeling of reverence, mingled with my admiration. I 
could never trust myself in any presenee to allude 
to the matter of his leaving us, I was so outraged by 
it ; and for a young fellow like me to mention it 
directly to him seemed to me, rightly or wrongly, 
presumptuous, and — well — simply an impossibility. 
Do you see how I felt ? 

Lois had turned, and they had walked back to the 
head of the path again. 

“ Yes,’^ she said, slowly, “ I think I do see it now. 
I never understood it before.’’ 


A LOYAL HEART. 


261 


feared it might be so. Then am I for- 
given ? 

Lois looked straight up now, with no coldness nor 
faltering in her clear eyes. 

Yes,^^ she said, gladly, freely. If you love my 
father and appreciate him as he deserves, I could 
forgive you almost anything. Good-bye.^^ And she 
gave him her hand cordially. 

^^May I ask you for still one kindness more?^^ 
asked John Romeyn, holding her hand a moment. 

^^Yes.^^ 

You have been everything to Rose through all 
this time of her danger. That is a slender hand,^^ 
and he smiled gently as he released it, but it seems 
to have been strong enough to bring the ship through 
the storm. Yes, I know what you would say, — it 
was God’s hand, and that is true ; but God has need 
of finely tempered instruments to work his will. Now, 
I want to tell you that Rose is in even sorer need 
than she has been before. Her pride, her womanhood 
itself, has been cruelly crushed; her whole nature 
seems to sink helpless, nerveless, under the blow. 
Miss Fleming, there is nothing that can help her — 
we are all powerless — but God himself, and the sal- 
vation from sin and the power of it which is possible 


262 


A LOYAL HEART. 


through our Lord Jesus. Will you pray for this, as 
I am doing ? ” 

I do pray, Mr. Eomeyn,’^ replied Lois, “ and I 
will.” And so they parted, and Lois came down 
through the pines to the wide veranda. 

In a cozy corner of it the little girls were playing, — 
Bertha Fleming, Gladys and Gussie Eomeyn. They 
did not see Lois, and as she passed she smiled, hear- 
ing them talking over their dolls, which had not been 
unpacked until this morning. 

‘‘What’s your doll’s name?” Bertha was asking 
Gussie. 

“ Lois Fleming,” was the reply. 

“ Why, Gussie, that’s Mildred Lilian,” exclaimed 
Gladys. “ What do you mean ? ” 

“No, she isn’t Mildred Lilian any more. She’s 
named after Bee’s sister now. I think she’s the love- 
liest lady in this whole world, and so does brother, 
’cause he said he did when I asked him ; and besides, 
prob’ly she saved my life, and so of course I ought to 
name my baby after her.” And Gussie’s voice had a 
note of indignation at the possibility of any other 
alternative. 

Lois went up to the room which was hers and 
Bertha’s, and sat down in the gable window over- 


A LOYAL HLART. 


263 


looking the beach. She tried to think, she tried to 
pray, but just for one little hour there seemed nothing 
possible to her but to be glad, with a great, unspeak- 
able joy which overflowed every anxiety, every fear, 
every painful memory. Her heart was 

. . . “ like a rainbow shell 
That paddles in a halcyon sea.’ 

All the past was reconciled and the present glorified 
by those words of John Romeyn’s. How natural and 
simple the long silence which had wounded her seemed 
now ! how manly, how unassuming he was, when she 
had fancied him haughty and indifierent all those 
years ! And he had reverenced and loved her father 
as he deserved, and had been righteously indignant at 
the treatment he had received ! The last old grievance 
was blotted out to-day between the Flemings and the 
Romeyns, and Lois almost laughed all to herself as 
she remembered how John Romeyn had asked uncon- 
sciously that first evening of their renewed acquaint- 
ance, What’s Montague ? ” What indeed now ? ” 
thought Lois. But better than all this even was the 
graver gladness which followed, as Lois thought of 
the way in which he had spoken of the service she 
had rendered his sister. She had done all that she 


264 


A LOYAL HEART. 


had done in the simplest way, not thinking it possible 
to do otherwise. She did not think of it less humbly 
now, but all the hard and painful strivings and con- 
flicts of the summer seemed exalted and lifted to a 
higher level by the touch which he had given. She 
had been constrained by the love of Christ in all that 
she had done, but the human elements had almost 
hidden the divine motive at times. Now Lois lay, 
with cheek aslant and eyes resting on the moving 
water, which she hardly knew that she saw, thankful 
beyond words that it was true that simple, natural 
acts of service, such as she had been able to do, could 
be — yes, were — wrought in God.^^ It almost stopped 
her breathing for a moment, the thought seemed so 
great, — workers with God, workers in God, here and 
now, in all the service of all the days. 

Meanwhile, in a hidden place among the great 
scarred rocks. Rose Romeyn sat alone, with face pale 
and spiritless, and dull eyes watching the waves 
wearily as they dashed in spray around her. 

The wind blows all the way from the coast of 
Spain,’' John Romeyn had said, when he parted from 
her there that evening. Nothing taints it ; it blows 
strong and free, and it has the purifying saving salt 
of all the ocean in its breath. Let it blow through 


A LOYAL HEART. 


265 


you, mind and body, Rose; let it blow away the 
weariness and the weakness of all this hard time.’^ 
For answer she had pointed to the waves breaking 
at the base of the rocks, and said : 

1 wish they were beating my life out instead.^^ 
And so, with a sad heart, and in silence he had 
kissed her and come away, and up to the sunshiny 
cliff — and Lois. 

It was not possible for any of those who loved Rose 
Romeyn fully to enter with her into the experience 
through which she w'as now passing. No word of 
comfort or encouragement could change the awful 
fact in her life that she had been untrue to her own 
womanhood, in giving herself secretly to a wicked 
and dishonorable man, and that she had been disloyal 
to every trust which had been reposed in her, led on to 
falseness of many kinds by the first severing from 
highest honor. It was a wise man who said : The first 
and greatest punishment of sin is the having sinnedT 
This is what Rose Romeyn was experiencing in an 
agony of soul deeper than any one around her could 
imagine. Nothing could undo the past. Nothing 
could make it true that she had not done these things. 
Nothing could make her as she had been before, with 
a white soul, fearless and free and innocent. To 


266 


A LOYAL HEART. 


herself she seemed tarnished, soiled, degraded by her 
contact with that man, the enormity of "whose wicked- 
ness became more and more awful to her, day by day. 
It was true that she had been deceived, but she had 
chosen to be deceived. She had been deluded, but she 
had givm herself over to the strong delusion,’^ and 
had wished to believe a lie. She had willfully blinded 
herself when she might have had pure eyes to search 
and see the truth. 

Yes, they were all kind and tender. Even God had 
not punished her by taking Augusta, as she had be- 
lived he would in consequence of her wrong-doing; 
but life was bitter, and she was weary beyond words 
of the burden she carried. It was noon and later 
than that, and still Rose sat alone with her tortured 
thoughts, giving their monotonous sound. But at last 
one found her hiding place. There was a heavy step 
on the rock behind her, and she rose slowly to her feet. 
It was Mrs. Barchet, who had seen her go away in 
this direction, and had been troubled for her through 
all the hours of the morning. 

They faced each other in silence for a moment. Rose 
tried to smile and speak, but it seemed more than she 
could do. At last Mrs. Barchet broke the silence. She 
said solemnly, unsmiling : 


A LOYAL HEART. 


267 


“ Have you found peace ? ’’ 

There is no peace for me/’ said Kose, sighing 
heavily, and she held out her hand to aid Mrs. 
Barchet in climbing back to the level sand of the 
beach. 

Child, you don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. 
Just go to your Bible and read what that says. Don’t 
it tell that Jesus came to give light to them that sit in 
darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our 
feet into the way of peace? What do you suppose 
the Lord Jesus Christ died for if ’twa’n’t to bring 
peace to the troubled soul ? Do you know what’s the 
matter with you ? ” There was an unwonted tender- 
ness in Mrs. Barchet’s voice, and her eyes were dim. 
Rose made no reply. 

You’re under conviction of sin. I see it in your 
face.” 


CHAPTER XXI. 


“If thou canst get but thither 

There grows the flower of Peace, 

The Rose that cannot wither, 

Thy fortress and thy ease. 

Leave then thy foolish ranges. 

For none can thee secure, 

But One, who never changes, 

Thy God, thy life, thy cure.” 

— Henry Vaughan. 

“I, who saw power, see now love perfect too. 

Maker, remake, complete, — I trust what thou shalt do ! ” 

— Robert Browning. 

TT would have been impossible for Lois.’’ 

J- It was Rose Romeyn who spoke, reclining 
listlessly on a couch in her room at Falaise, with 
Rachel Barchet by her side. The casement window 
was open ; on the roof of the veranda outside it the 
rain was falling noisily ; the sea was gray, with gray 
clouds hanging low above it, and the wind was 
snatching the foam from the waves and driving it 
onward through the air. Down stairs Lois was read- 
ing Water Babies” to the children, with Mother 
268 


A LOYAL HEART. 


269 


Barchet sitting by, a good deal puzzled in her own 
mind over what appeared to her dreadful nonsense,” 
and impatiently waiting for an opportunity to produce 
a volume of Watts’ ^‘Divine and Moral Song,” which 
she had brought with her for the benefit of the chil- 
dren on rainy days. Bose had been alone in her 
room the greater part of the day, pleading a headache. 
Now, in the afternoon, Rachel Barchet had gone to 
her, asking if she might not sit beside her for a while 
with her work. Bose had assented languidly, and 
for a time Rachel had found scant response to what 
she said, and her painful anxiety for the girl deepened 
as she watched her face, and wondered if nothing 
could break this apathy into which she seemed to 
have sunk. 

But to her surprise. Rose soon introduced, of her 
own accord, the subject of her unhappy engagement, 
asking some questions regarding the journey which 
Rachel had taken and the knowledge she had obtained 
of Noel Durand’s character. Rachel replied kindly, 
but she spoke unsparingly of the man’s dishonorable 
life, of his cruel selfishness and baseness of character. 
Rose listened in silence, her face growing whiter and 
more piteous with every word, which fell like a 
scourge upon her sick soul. 


270 


A LOYAL HEART. 


How could I ever have cared for him ? ’’ she 
exclaimed at length, in a kind of anguish which could 
not be longer repressed. “ If I had been good my- 
self, I could not have come under the power of such 
a man.^^ Then, after a little silence, came the words 
already given : It would have been impossible for 
Lois.’^ 

Why do you think it would have been impossible 
for her ? Rachel asked, determined, like a wise and 
faithful surgeon, to probe the wound to its depths, 
not sparing the present pain for the sake of the ulti- 
mate healing. 

Nothing in her would have responded to a man 
like him,’’ Rose said, sadly ; she would have known 
by instinct that he was not a good man, and that 
would have ended everything to Lois. I think I felt 
it myself at times, but he had a power over me that 
I cannot describe nor even understand now. But do 
you know. Miss Barchet, I sometimes believe that if 
I should see him again, knowing all that I know, 
and he should choose to have it so, I should fall 
under his influence again ! That is one of the most 
horrible thoughts I have, and it follows me day and 
night.” 

Rachel Barchet’s face grew stern, but she chose not 


A LOYAL HEART. 


271 


to speak. She Avaited for Rose to tell all that she 
Avoiild of her inner life, unchecked by any comment 
from her. She realized that a Avord Avhich seemed 
harsh or which betrayed her OAvn amazement at Rose’s 
course might seal the girl’s lips to her forever. 

I suppose that is inconceivable to you,” Rose 
continued. “ I knoAV it Avould be to Lois. I am sure 
nothing evil appeals to her. Her nature is so differ- 
ent from mine. I can hardly explain it, but it seems 
to me her nature is single. There is only one person 
in her. All her impulses and desires go one way ; 
you see hoAv I mean. That must make it easy to be 
good. In me there are two or three natures mixed 
together. My inner life is complex, full of conflict 
ahvays. There is a good side to me, perhaps, — I 
used to think so ; now I am not sure. But there is 
another nature in me Avhich is reckless and Avild, and 
sometimes that is the stronger. It was to this side 
of me, I know noAv, that he appealed, — truly and 
really. Miss Barchet.” Rose Avas sitting erect noAV, 
and she looked Avith eyes of almost terror into Rachel’s 
face with these Avords : I believe now that I liked 
that man because I was like him myself. Now you 
knoAv hoAV I suffer and what I seem to myself!” 
And Rose hid her face. 


272 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Rachel Barchet laid her hand upon the girPs head, 
controlling by her touch the agitation which was 
mastering her. 

I want you to be quiet, dear, if you can,’’ she 
said, gently, ^^and keep your thoughts clear. It is 
right for you to think things through and face the 
truth, however fearful its look may be. Listen to 
me. You do not understand, I think, what you have 
described as one side of your nature ; it is simply sin. 
There is always conflict in every life. Rose, because 
of sin. It seems not to be so in Lois’, because the 
one power which can control sin is dominant in her 
life. There is unity in her nature beyond what you 
see in that of most people. But she too has her 
temptations. They are not yours, but they may be 
very hard to conquer, only she does conquer them.” 

How does any one grow to be as she is ? ” 

My dear child, there is only one way to win this 
unity of heart, one way to bring into captivity this 
lower side of your nature, and that is through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. It is to give us this peace, this 
unity, this victory over sin, that he died. Accept his 
aid, give all your heart and soul and will to him, and 
he will cleanse and purify you and set you free from 
the power of sin and of death.” 


A LOYAL. HEART. 


273 


Eose looked steadfastly into Eachel Barchet’s face 
as one who clings to the last chance of rescue. 

Can I be good f she whispered, as if her very 
life hung upon RachePs answer. Can God make my 
heart clean ? 

^^He can, Rose,’^ said Rachel Barchet, solemnly. 

^ I nave blotted out as a cloud, thy transg session, and 
as a thick cloud thy sins ; return unto me, for I have 
redeemed thee.’ ” 

Then dropping her forehead upon Rose’s hand as 
she held it in her own, Rachel prayed : 

“O Father, let this dear child know how thou dost 
love and pity her, and long to give her peace ; Lord, 
she is very tired and troubled, because of sin in her 
heart. Thou knowest all that she has suffered, and 
thou hast sent thy Son to save us. Draw her now, this 
very hour, to the cross of Christ, and forgive her 
freely and forever, for his sake who died for all our 
sin.” 

Having prayed thus, Rachel kissed Rose tenderlyj 
and came away, leaving her alone with God. 

Late that afternoon, John Romeyn, alighting from 
the lumbering and mud-spattered stage-coach, before 
the little Quinconnet inn, was surprised to see his 

sister Rose standing in the porch, looking something 
s 


274 


A LOYAL HEART. 


like a nun, in the sober gray and straight outlines of 
her rain cloak. Something unusual in her face im- 
pressed him as he greeted her and thanked her for 
walking so far in the rain to meet him. It was paler 
than ever, and there was a worn look about the eyes 
which touched him, but something was there which 
he had never seen on Kose Komeyn’s face before. It 
was peace. 

The brother and sister walked away from the inn, 
down the narrow, unpaved street between the homely 
fishermen’s houses ; and so out upon the field path 
along the cliff to Falaise. The rain had ceased, and 
the gray clouds were lifting from the sea. 

What good thing has come to you. Rose? ” John 
Romeyn asked as they walked on, regardless of the 
grass heavy with rain. I have a presentiment of good. 
Tell me that I am not wrong.” 

You are not wrong.” And her voice was tremu- 
lous, and the sound of tears were in it as she spoke. 

John Romeyn caught her hand for a moment in his 
and clasped it. 

“ It is only,” Rose continued, with a timid hesita- 
tion which was new to her, that I am beginning, 
only to-day, John, and I hardly know if I dare hope. 
Do you think it can be ? ” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


275 


“ That what can be, dear ? 

That I can be good, and be forgiven, and live again 
— and a true life this time.’’ 

Most truly I believe it, Itose. I know it.” And 
John E-omeyn’s voice thrilled with joy as he spoke. 

What does it mean that God sent his Son into the 
world, but that there should be life for us all, and 
forgiveness and release from sin ? ” 

never understood it, although I have heard 
of it all my life, John. But to-day it means to me 
everything. Oh, you cannot think what it means, for 
you have not hated yourself as I have, and tried so 
hard to bear such a heavy burden ! ” 

Poor little sister. I know it has been hard.” 

To think that I could go so far wrong ! It has 
humiliated me in a way you cannot understand, and 
yet I have been so helpless, — not even able toAvantto 
give up Avhat was wicked always.” 

That is the very grip of sin upon us, Rose. It is not 
you alone who suffer it. It is one of the saintliest men 
who has ever lived who prays to ^ fear. 

Not feel a secret joy, that Hell is near.’ ” 

John, can you think what it means to me to be- 


276 


A LOYAL HEART. 


lieve that I have been forgiven, and need not live with 
those terrible thoughts any more ? 

Yes, dear, I believe I csluJ’ 

To feel that God is my friend, and loves and pities 
me in spite of all ; that I have not always to feel a 
stain and blot upon my soul ! Oh, I do not dare 
think how happy I am. It cannot be true, I almost 
fear.” 

It is true. Rose. It is the very truth of God.” 

They were nearly home when Rose said, with 
a sadness in her voice which smote her brother’s 
heart : 

You know, John, I quite understand that my life 
can never be as if all this had not been. I can never 
feel that it has been a whole^ good life, like Lois Flem- 
ing’s. She has been loyal to God always, and I have 
been false, and I must carry the scar. That is my 
punishment.” 

But God will help you to bear it, and even that 
may beeome your strength.” 

As they came on the veranda of the cottage, they 
heard the sound of the piano, and Lois singing to the 
children. The song she sang was Kingsley’s Clear 
and Cool ” from the book she had been reading to 
them. She had reached the last verse, and Rose and 


A LOYAL HEART. 


277 


Joliu stood in the open window, unseen by the little 
group around the piano, and listened : 

“ Strons: and free, strong and free, 

The flood-gates are open away to the sea ; 

Free and strong, free and strong. 

Cleansing my streams as I hurry along 
To the golden sands, and the leaping bar, 

And the taintless tide that awaits me afar, 

As I lose myself in the infinite main. 

Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again. 
Undefiled for the undefiled, 

Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.” 

There were tears in the eyes of both when the song 
was ended, and John Romeyn said, very low : 

That is all for you. Rose.” 

Going in. Rose spoke gently to Lois and to the 
little girls whom she had hardly seen all day ; then 
crossing the room to the corner where Mrs. Barchet 

O 

sat, she bent over and kissed her. 

The old lady looked up, surprised, and then, seeing 
the face of the girl, with the new light upon it, she 
said : 

Praise the Lord ! This day has salvation come 
unto this house !” 


CHAPTER XXII. 


“ She never found fault with you, never implied 
Your wrong by her right ; and yet men at her side 
Grew nobler, girls purer, as through the whole town 
The children were gladder that pulled at her gown.” 

— Mrs. Browning. 

O N a Friday afternoon early in September we find 
Lois Fleming sitting in the one room of the 
small, unpainted schoolhouse at Qiiinconnet with 
fifteen or twenty women and girls of the village. 
They had been sewing, learning pretty and tasteful 
handiwork under Lois’ direction; but now the work 
was put away, and she read aloud from ‘^The Great- 
est Thing in the World,” commenting as she read. 
The little company listened with earnest attention. 
Their faces were hardened by labor and exposure, 
their hands were coarse and heavy, their clothing 
destitute of beauty or grace ; but there was a vigor, 
a sobermindedness, an honesty of desire to reach out 
after good things which made every one of them 
interesting to Lois. These Friday afternoon meetings 

had been held regularly for several weeks. The 
278 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


279 


colorless, monotonous life of the women of the little 
village had aroused Lois’ sympathy from the first of 
her coming to Falaise. As she sought them out and 
talked with them, their eagerness and their gratitude 
touched her deeply. The elements of their life were 
few and simple and strangely joyless. Lois longed 
to bring them something of the beauty and gladness 
with which her own life was full and running over. 
Following this impulse, she had asked some of the 
women if they could not have a meeting in the 
schodlhouse to sew and read together, and her sug- 
gestion had been quickly carried into effect. 

Quinconnet was eight miles away from the railroad. 
In summer the stage ran from the nearest railway 
station three times a week ; in winter once. It had 
not yet been discovered by the summer boarder,” 
only the owners of Falaise, who were abroad this 
year and had granted the use of their cottage to the 
Romeyns in their absence, having made it a place of 
resort. The life of the people was singularly iso- 
lated ; it was emphatically a life in which nothing 
happens.” Their habits and speech were primitive, 
their horizon limited, their views of life sad colored. 
The little church in the village was opened only at 
long intervals, when some traveling preacher happened 


280 


A LOYAI. HEART. 


to stray that way, or was sent by some careful com- 
mittee on the state of religion in the rural districts. 
There was no Sunday-school ; there were no social 
meetings. The people were ^^as sheep having no 
shepherd.^^ 

What a chance to do a little of the Master^s 
work!^^ thought Lois Fleming. And accordingly 
she set about it. 

For two Sundays there had been a very informal 
Sunday-school organized, attended by nearly the 
whole population of Quinconnet and by all the 
family from Falaise. The little girls in the simplest 
of flannel gowns had helped to swell the classes, while 
the older members of the family had served as teach- 
ers, even Rose taking half a dozen babies into a 
corner behind the rusty old stove and trying to call 
back for them the sweet old influence of Sundays 
spent with her mother, when she had learned: 
think when I read that sweet story of old,^^ and had 
sung, There is a happy land.’’ 

Mrs. Barchet was in her element. She was 
‘^mighty” in the Scriptures, and the Quinconnet 
people seemed to her like home folks.” It was 
’most as good as bein’ at home to Second Milo,” she 
said ; and so went to work with a will. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


281 


But while they all joined in the work on Sunday, 
John Korney n having even consented to read a 
sermon in the church on the following Sunday, the 
Friday afternoon was left to Lois alone. She did 
not urge the others to come with her at that time, 
feeling herself that she could reach the hearts and 
come into the lives of these women better if alone. 

The reading over, and the time being come to go 
home and prepare supper for ‘^the men folks,^’ the 
women aud girls disguised themselves in their sun 
bonnets, drawn on at that particular angle which is 
more suggestive of a barn roof than of a human head, 
and made ready to go, lingering a little for a last 
word with Lois. Already she knew the names of 
them all, who were in their families, and something 
of the circumstances of each. Bright, cordial sym- 
pathy and unaffected interest seemed to ray out from 
her face and kindle a response in them all, however 
stolid and inert their habit- 

She looks like one of them saints she showed us 
in that picter book she brought the other day, I 
declare to goodness, if she dofft ! exclaimed one of 
the younger women to another as she left the school- 
house. 

Only none of them have got stars in their eyes 


282 


A LOYAL HEAKT. 


like she has/^ returned the girl addressed, who had, 
for Quinconnet, a lively imagination ; “ but her hair 
shining so ’round her face would do for one of those 
round things they all have on. What is it she called 
’em?” 

I can’t rec’lect now. We’ll try and ask her 
Sunday.” 

The schoolhouse was locked and Lois came away, 
turning in at the garden gate of the nearest cottage, 
where there was a sick baby. The low picket fence 
was all ablaze with the blossoms of scarlet bean, and 
inside, the path to the house was bordered gayly with 
zinnias and marigolds. The father, a sunburned, 
rough-haired sailor, sat on the doorsteps with a short 
pipe in his mouth, the baby held in one great, mus- 
cular arm, half tenderly, half carelessly. It was a 
pale, limp little creature, and looked impossibly tiny 
against the broad shoulder of the stalwart man. The 
mother had been at the meeting and came home with 
Lois. 

There was a little chat upon the doorstep. Lois 
coaxed the baby with pretty wiles to come to her, and 
won a pitiful little smile from the wan lips. She had 
brought medicine and some improved food for its use, 
and having explained to the mother how they should 


A LOYAL HEART. 


283 


be prepared and given, and amazed herself by the 
lecture she developed on the necessity for extreme 
cleanliness in everything pertaining to the baby’s 
food, she said good-bye and came away, followed by 
grateful and admiring looks from all the little family. 
At the gate, to her surprise, she met John Korney n. 

I supposed you were at home,” she said. What 
brings you to Quinconnet so late ? ” 

He made no direct reply, but proposed a walk out 
from the village in the opposite direction from Falaise, 
a walk which Lois had never taken. 

You really must do it before we go,” he said, 
and there are only two weeks more, you know. The 
path through the woods is just what you like, and then 
we find some fine rocks, and a view northward 
which I do not want you to miss.” 

Lois readily consented and walked on with that in- 
describable gladness filling her heart, which had come 
to her this summer as never before. All things 
seemed given to her now. Kose was safe and happy, 
and learning of Christ with a child-like sweetness 
which was a revelation and a marvel to them all. 
There was no cloud upon them at Falaise, in these 
days, no fear or dread. In Lois’ heart as she passed 
out from the village street at John Romeyn’s side. 


284 


A LOYAL HEART. 


and looked up now and then inlo his face, there 
Stirred a strange sense of some great joy coming to her ; 
she did not name it, she could not think it, but it 
made her tremble, as once before she had trembled 
under a presentiment of trouble impending. 

Do you work all the year round. Miss Fleming, 
as you do here?^^ John Fomeyn asked her. I am 
beginning to think doing good is your profession.’^ 

It ought to be,” replied Lois, smiling. Is not 
that the thing to which we are called ? Only I don’t 
like the word ^ profession.’ But to tell the truth, Mr. 
Bomeyn, I have done very little in the way of charit- 
able work, and so, perhaps, I have the more eagerly 
welcomed this chance here in Quinconnet. I have 
been very much mixed up about ‘ good works.’ Faith 
isn’t half as much trouble.” 

How do you mean ? I thought the poor we had 
‘ always with us, and whensoever we will we can do 
them good.’ Surely you do not suffer for lack of 
opportunity. 

^^But, Mr. Romeyn, you have been away from home 
so much, I do not believe you have any idea how 
organized we are nowadays ! The old ways of visit- 
ing poor people with personal help for particular needs 
is almost done away with by our charitable organiz- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


285 


ations. There are the ^worthy poor’ who are under 
the care of one society, and you must not touch them ; 
and the ^incorrigibly wicked’ poor, whom it would be 
sin to help as far as I can find out, who are looked 
out for by another society. Everything is system- 
atized. There seems no room left for spontaneous, 
private work — at least I can’t find it. Whatever I 
try to do, I run straightway against some organization 
which is doing the same thing.” 

Then why not put your own efforts into those of 
the organizations of which you speak, and so work 
with them ? ” 

Lois’ cheeks flushed a little, as she found her old 
perplexity confronting her. 

Oh, Mr. Romeyn you have touched the very heart 
of the whole thing ! ” she exclaimed. I am a 
heretic on this particular point. I do not believe 
in the charitable organizations as they are conducted. 
There is so much of selfishness, of personal motive, 
of rivalry, and discord, and I fear of sham charity. 
I feel that I must work by myself, and yet I find it 
hard to do that.” 

May I speak very frankly. Miss Fleming ? ” 

“ I wish you would.” 

Then I must tell you that I think you are alto- 


286 


A LOYAL HEART. 


gether wrong, not perhaps in your premises, but in 
your conclusions. Let us sit down here, and think it 
over.^’ 

They had reached a point where a great rock jutted 
out over the beach below, giving a wide, free prospect 
of the sea. Lois sat down. She was deeply in- 
terested ; and the spirited face showed that she would 
not give up her position without a valiant eifort to 
defend it. 

John Romeyn smiled at her flushed cheeks and 
bright eyes. Whether right or wrong, she was honest 
to the core. Her mistakes were those of one whose 
absolute truthfulness of thought and life had never 
been reconciled to slights and compromises. 

^^You say the work is done by these organiza- 
tions,’^ said John Romeyn, throwing himself down on 
the lichen-covered rock at Lois’ side. ^^You admit 
so much.” 

^^Yes, I believe there is a great deal of work 
done.” 

But because the people who organize to do it are 
selfish and unwise in certain ways, you cannot work 
with them.” 

That sounds as if I were a very assuming per- 
son ” 


..-3 



A Loyal Heart 


Page 286 






o 



A LOYAL HEAKT. 


287 


“ And you are not in the least/’ he interrupted ; 
but I think you are making a mistake. Not that 
I would advise you or any one to substitute the work 
of organization for personal hand-to-hand work, for 
which there is an imperative demand, and one whose 
pressure we cannot safely resist. It is cowardly 
shirking of responsibility to give one’s name, as 
many do, to a charitable society and nothing more, 
and call that doing God’s service. Only I want you 
to see that you have not the right to stand in the 
attitude of condemning the organized efforts which 
are made by Christian people in the name of Christ. 
Think a minute, Lois, where it brings you ! ” 

He had not before called her by name, but she 
hardly knew that he did so now, being startled by 
the point to which he was leading her. 

Our Lord made use of an organization of twelve 
men from the very first. He formed it himself. Did 
he not? He was its head. They had a treasurer, 
certainly, and perhaps — who knows? — a secretary. 
The treasurer was a very bad man. But Christ did 
not say he could not work with him.” 

Lois made no response ; she did not even lift her 
eyes to meet John Romeyn’s, although she felt their 
earnest look, as it rested on her face. Her thoughts 


288 


A LOYAL HEART. 


were running before him to ends not reached be- 
fore. 

They were a very selfish society, in certain ways. 
The very choicest spirits amojig them were scheming 
for the highest offices, and they all expected personal 
gain through the organization.” 

Lois made a swift, involuntary gesture of protest. 

Is it not true? ” John Romeyn asked. 

I am afraid it is,” she said, reluctantly. 

I think they were not better men when Christ 
began to work with them, than men whom you know 
in ’Exeter to-day ; and they never became perfect. 
Even after three years of daily living with the Master 
every one of them was faithless and forsook him. 
And he knew that they would ; and knowing all he 
loved them, he trusted them, he called them his own, 
he prayed for them.” 

Lois did not speak. 

^ The disciple is not above his Master, nor the 
servant above his lord.’” 

There was a little silence, and at length Lois said : 

Nothing is left for me but to say I have been 
wrong. If the Lord can have patience with me, I 
think I shall never dare fail again of being patient 
with other people. Just now, no sin seems to me 


A LOYAL HEART. 


289 


SO great as my own. I believe I have been a real 
Pharisee.^’ 

“ o, you have not. I think every young and 
earnest person has something of the conflict through 
which you are passing, in learning to adjust pure and 
high standards to the ^ fashion of this world.’ No 
one can deny that we lose something in the process. 
We must all feel at times the longing to live aloof, 
separate from the puzzling complexity of modern life. 
I am not sure whether the impulse is not a cowardly 
one. But I often think of what Auerbach says in 
^On the Heights’ about the tree. Do you remem- 
ber?” 

^^No; I believe I do not know what you mean.” 

I cannot give his words, but the thought is that a 
tree which grows in the forest, pressed closely on 
every side by other trees, — look, there is the whole 
parable before you ; ” and he pointed to a pine tree 
behind I^ois, — that such a tree cannot develop all 
its branches perfectly, to their full possibility. You 
see those lower branches, how short and imperfect 
they are. So with us. Something has to be given 
up to the pressure of society upon us. We might 
have been great in some direction, or at least we 
think so, but the necessity of conformity and conces- 


290 


A LOYAL HEART. 


sion, the power of convention, make us over into 
another shape from the full symmetry which might 
have been.’^ 

How hard that it must be so ! 

Yes, in a way. And yet society is God’s ordained 
condition for us, and I do not doubt we gain more 
than we lose. At least, we are not minded to seek 
the pillar or the cell, are we?” And John Romeyn 
rose to his feet and stood looking down at Lois with 
a smile. 

Come.” And he held out his hand and helped 
her to rise. 

Where ? ” she added. 

We are going down to the beach now. There is 
a boat down there which I am going to steal tempo- 
rarily. The oars have been left in it for our benefit. 
We are going to have a row, if you will.” 

A scramble and a little jumping soon brought them 
to the water’s edge, and here they found the old boat 
which John Romeyn had discovered. 

Leaping in, he examined it thoroughly. Then, 
looking back to Lois, he laughed and said : 

It is ^ an ancient and fishy ’ crafib, but it is sea- 
worthy. Will you come?” 

“Yes, indeed,” she cried, as she took his hands and 


A LOYAL HEART. 


291 


stepped, light and sure of foot, into the stern, which 
was bumping and knocking upon the stones; ^‘a very 
little imagination will make a gondola of it. And 
who cares for paint on a boat when all that color is in 
the sky ? 

They looked up together and saw the rose-colored 
light of the sunset suffusing the sky and throwing its 
radiance across the w^ater. 

^ God’s in his heaven,’ ” said J ohn Eomeyn, 
taking his seat and beginning to row. All’s right 
with the world ! ” 

Then after a little silence he said : 

Life is very beautiful to me to-night, but it is 
you who make it so. Lois, I want you now and for- 
ever. Do I ask too much ? ” 

Not more than I can give.” 


CHAPTEH XXIII. 


“ How noble ought my manners now to be, 
How white my secret life ; I, who have seen 
The Lord in his own glory ; I, who see 
So vast a mound of love to intervene 
Between the torrent of my sins and me ! ” 


•Henry Septimus Sutton. 


N a November evening we find the Romeyn 



vy family gathered in the library, Mr Romeyn 
and his son busy with books and papers at the table 
in the centre of the room, while Rose sits by the fire- 
side with the little girls. Gladys is on a low stool at 
her feet, Gussie is in her lap, leaning back happy and 
content, with her head on Rose’s shoulder. Rose is 
reading to them in a low tone, which does not disturb 
the readers by the library table. 

John Romeyn from his place watches the little 
group with fond eyes. There is a touch of Madonna 
grace, he thinks, upon Rose, as she sits thus in the 
firelight with the children. Her face is serious ; 
something of its conscious, triumphant beauty is gone, 
but it has given place to an illumination from within 
far lovelier. There is a womanly tenderness in the 


292 


A LOYAL HEART. 


293 


very bending of the head over Gussie, a motherliness 
in the hand which rests on Gladys’ shoulder. The 
father sees it too, for all his evening paper, and finds 
some inconvenience in distinguishing the figures in 
the financial column he is reading. 

Eight o’clock strikes, and Sophie appears in the 
doorway, ready to take the children up stairs to bed. 
Gussie winds her arms tightly around Rose’s neck 
and rebels against leaving her, but a promise that she 
will follow them in a few moments satisfies her, and 
she dances off, saying : 

^^You will come and Guck us in and cover us 
tight, tuck us in and cover us light,’ won’t you. 
Rose dear ? ” 

And sing us ^ Lord Lovel ’ too,” adds Gladys. 

Rose agrees to do both, and the children follow 
Sophie with contented faces. 

Later, Rose brings her books and joins her father 
and John under the shaded lamplight. 

^^How did the geometry go to-day?” asks John 
Romeyn, looking over at the book which Rose has 
opened. 

She shakes her head half ruefully. 

Miss Barchet puts me through awfully, John, I 
tell you,” she exclaimed, laughing. ^^She says I 


294 


A LOYAL HEART. 


have fallen into very loose ways of studying, and she 
is determined to have me get out of them.’^ 

Good for her.” 

Miss Barchet has more sense than any woman I 
ever knew,” commented Mr. Romeyn. You won’t 
make any mistake. Rose, in sticking to her.” 

There is a satisfaction, John,” said Rose, looking 
thoughtfully at her brother, ^Gn mastering every 
point as you come to it thoroughly, instead of getting 
a kind of general idea and leaving the details to take 
care of themselves.” 

“I take it the latter was Madame Leton’s man- 
ner.” 

Rose nodded. She did not often speak of her 
experiences at Madame Leton’s. 

It is really refreshing,” she continued, to get 
back to Miss Barchet’s merciless drill. I believe I 
shall begin soon to like study for its own sake.” 

Of course you will. Rose. I should be ashamed 
of you if you didn’t. You have decided on German 
instead of Greek ? ” 

Yes, that is fully settled now. You know I have 
quite a start in German already, and I feel pretty 
sure that I can get enough to enter college with by 
next fall, but if I tried the Greek it would be doubt- 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


295 


ful. You see, John, I shall be pretty old to begin a 
college course if I don’t go next year.” 

How old are you ? ” 

Nineteen last month. If I go through the whole 
course, as I mean to, I shall be twenty-three years old 
when I come out. Positively venerable, you see ! ” 

Terrible to contemplate ! ” 

I don’t care. I am so happy to think I can go at 
all. I am thoroughly won over to the idea of college 
life and the real hard work of it. Ht is perfectly lovely 
of you and Lois to be willing to sacrifice yourselves 
to such an extent for my sake.” And Pose looked 
mischievously at her brother, who could not conceal 
the smile which played around the corners of his 
mouth. 

Sheer heroism on my part. Pose,” he said. 

^MVhat are you talking about?” asked Mr. Po- 
meyn, looking up from his paper. 

Why, don’t you know, papa,” explained Pose, 
that John and Lois discovered that I wanted to go 
to college, but didn’t see how it was possible, because 
I couldn’t and wouldn’t leave the children, and that 
having discovered that fact they have nobly and, as 
John says, heroically concluded to make martyrs of 
themselves, to the extent of being married a whole 


296 


A LOYAL HEART. 


year before they had expected to. Hasn’t John told 
you about it ? ” 

certainly I have/’ remarked John Romeyn ; 

we were discussing it the other day.” 

Mr. Romeyn took off his eyeglasses and struck 
them two or three times upon the paper which lay 
upon his knee. 

So I am to lose my girl again, am I ? ” he said, 
soberly. “ My Rose is going to leave me, is she ? ” 
And his eyes rested tenderly upon his daughter’s face. 

In an instant she was at his feet, her arms folded 
upon his knee, her eyes looking lovingly up into his. 

^^Do you really mind very much, papa dear,” she 
asked, because, if you do. I’ll give up college ? I 
only thought it would be nice to amount to something, 
and I have been such a superficial creature, you know, 
so far.” 

^^I guess you have. Rose, I guess you have,” 
replied Mr. Romeyn, in a jerky way he had at times; 

but I don’t know but I have a kind of a weakness 
for superficial creatures.” 

John Romeyn, looking at the ^^superficial creature” 
in question, thought his father excusable. 

^^And then, you know, papa,” said Rose, ^^you will 
have Lois, and she is worth a dozen of me.” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


297 


Lois — here in the house ? — all the time ? asked 
Mr. Romeyn, as if it was entirely a new idea to him. 
^^Wouldn^t it be asking too much of her, John, to 
take so much care from the first? Most girls like a 
little doll house of their own to learn in, with a table 
all to themselves, where two can drink out of one cup, 
you know, and all that kind of thing. It’s rather 
nice I think myself.” And he laughed appreciatively 
at the picture he had called up. 

I should think it might be,” said John Romeyn, 
by no means ready to confess how great a sacrifice it 
had been to him to forego a home for himself and 
Lois alone. I should think it might be, but there 
are other things more important. Lois is so accus- 
tomed to thinking of everybody but herself that I 
think she would quite possibly be happier here, run- 
nino; around after vou and the children, than she 
would be in a home of her own.” 

She’s a nice girl ! a lovely girl ! ” exclaimed Mr 
Romeyn. How did you ever have the good fortune 
to get her, John? I don’t believe you know what a 
lucky fellow you are.” 

Don’t I, though ! ” laughed his son. 

“ Well, if Lois is coming. Rose, I guess you can go 
to college, though it will not be the same place here 


298 


A LOYAL HEART. 


without you. Pick out one that has good long vaca- 
tions and a short course, — that is all I'll stipulate.’^ 

At this point John Romeyn left the room, saying 
this conversation was of such vital importance to Lois 
that he must hasten to report it. Rose returned to 
her books. Once during the hour which followed, 
her father interrupted her to say : 

It’s a fine thing for us all. Rose, John’s deciding 
to settle down here at home. I don’t know of any- 
thing that could be a greater comfort to me.” Then, 
after a little : 

‘‘ Do you know, my dear, how much you are grow- 
ing to be like your mother ? You have in some way 
come to have just her loving, gentle ways. She was 
always like an angel in the house.” 

Rose could not trust herself to speak, but she put 
her hand in her father’s, troubled by his praise, un- 
speakably grateful for his tenderness. 

The following morning Rose drove around to 
Brown street, as she often did that fall, to see 
Corny Roberts. After her return from Quinconnet 
Rose had gone there with Lois several times, but 
soon she had become so interested in Corny and 
found so much of the help she needed in her com- 
panionship, that she had ceased waiting for Lois, and 


A LOYAL HEART. 


299 


had become one of the most frequent and welcome 
visitors to the cosy little house. 

This morning Rose had a matter of unusual im- 
portance on hand. She had perceived, what all of 
Corny^s friends were obliged to admit, that she was 
none the stronger for her summer’s outing. The 
attacks of prostrating pain came nearer together 
this fall than ever before. More frequently than of 
old. Corny’s friends came to the house and went 
away without seeing her. When they found her in 
her place on the sofa, there were new lines of suffering 
in her face. The sweet patience of her spirit was 
never conquered, but the veil of flesh seemed to grow 
more transparent day by day. Mrs. Roberts went 
about her work Avith a face which showed the dread 
which pierced her heart. Louise strove bravely to 
keep her cheerfulness for the sake of the others, but 
there were days when she fought back the tears all 
day long, and Avhen the necessity of leaving Corny in 
her pain and weakness, and going to her routine of 
schoolroom work, seemed more than she could bear. 

Rose and Lois had been in consultation Avith 
Corny’s physician for several weeks, and had learned 
that the one remaining chance for her restoration, 
Avhich he felt safe in advising, was in going to a 


300 


A LOYAL HEART. 


certain hospital in New York, and remaining under 
the care of a celebrated specialist there, for several 
months. He told the girls that he had not even men- 
tioned the matter to Mrs. Eoberts, as he felt sure 
that the very great expense involved would render 
the experiment impossible, and the suggestion under 
such circumstances would only be an added pain. 
Now at Eose^s request he had consented to place the 
matter fully before Mrs. Eoberts, telling her what 
must be the ultimate result if Corny did not go, and 
what he considered her chanee for recovery if the ex- 
periment were tried. It had been carefully arranged 
by Lois and Eose that this interview with Mrs. Eob- 
erts should take place at a certain hour of this morn- 
ing. Greatly to her satisfaction, Eose saw the doctor’s 
carriage drive away just as she came in sight of 
the little house. This was according to the plan. 

Mrs. Eoberts met her at the door. There were 
tears in her eyes, and she was unable to conceal the 
strange feeling which was agitating her. 

Eose took her hands lovingly, and said : 

Don’t feel in this way another minute. It is all 
right about Corny. Aren’t we happy that she can 
be made better, and perhaps almost as well as any 
one ? ” 


A LOYAL HEART. 


801 


Mrs. Koberts looked at her in astonishment. Eose 
smiled. 

Yes, I have been talking with the doctor too,’’ 
she said, cheerily, — and her voice and look inspired 
Mrs. Roberts with comfort, — ^^and 1 came in this 
morning especially to tell you that Corny is surely to 
go — that is, if you feel that it is best.” 

But, Miss Romeyn, she can’t go,” broke out Mrs. 
Roberts, with a burst of tears. I would give my life 
to have her, but we have not the means. I never 

have felt what it was before ” 

And you are not to feel it now,” said Rose, her 
own eyes brimming over. The means are all pro- 
vided, and you have not to think about it for a mo- 
ment. Let us go and see Corny. Does she know ? ” 
Yes, the doctor has been telling her just what he 
thinks.” 

Rose found Corny in her usual place. There was 
perhaps a deeper shade of seriousness on her face than 
usual, but no trouble or excitement. 

Sitting beside her. Rose put a sealed envelope into 
her hand, and closed her fingers over it. 

Will you be so good to me,” she asked, as to 
take that and use it in going to New York, asking 
no questions? ” 


302 


A LOYAL HEAET. 


Corny, in great surprise, protested that she could 
not accept such a gift. It was too much. But Bose 
would not let her speak. 

Dear Corny,’* she said, imploringly, and her eyes 
spoke the deep feeling in her heart better than words, 
I have never done anything in all my life for other 
people, and now it will be such a joy to me if I can 
do this little thing for you. The money is my very 
own. I have the right to do it. Papa wants me to. 
Don’t you believe God wants me to ? I do. And 
who can tell how it may dry up all my desire to do 
anything for other people, if you reject this poor little 
attempt. I should not think you would dare to take 
so great a responsibility ! ” 

Corny looked up through blinding tears into the 
bright face bent over her. She could not speak. 

You are going to be good to me. I know you 
are,” whispered Rose, rising to go. I want a saint 
to pray for me ; you can do far more for me. Corny, 
than I can ever do for you. You have already.” 


CHAPTER XXiy. 


“If the chief desire of the heart is for the right, it is 
possible for every human being in spite of all life’s tempta- 
tions and difficulties, its trials and its mistakes, to bring good 
out of evil, victory from failure, success from defeat.” 



[HRISTMAS week and Christmas weather, — 


A/ frost in the air, snow on the ground and more 
in the sky ! Everybody in a hurry ; everybody good 
tempered ; everybody who is on the street carrying a 
bundle ; everybody who is in the house hiding one.; 
everybody who is going out planning to get one. It 
is the time for plans and projects; for schemes for all 
the world and never a one for one’s self; for heartiness 
and happiness ; for peace and good-will. 

In Mrs. James Parry’s library is a scene of genuine 
ante-Christmas confusion. The well-known incon- 
gruities of tarletan and candy, worsted and pop-corn, 
tin trumpets and testaments, literature and locomo- 
tives of limited size, all told plainly of preparation 
for a Christmas tree. 

In the room are gathered the members of Mrs. 
Parry’s Literary Circle, called together in an im- 


803 


804 


A LOYAL HEART. 


promptu fashion for an especial purpose. Julia 
Leighton is the hostess, and moves about in a quiet 
way, doing everything to make the work easy for the 
others. It is easy to see her happiness in her face ; 
she is merry and light-hearted, and the other girls 
appeal to her constantly as one whose wishes have 
especial weight and worth. They have found her out. 
Mrs. Parry is in the room, working busily with the 
rest, filling every gap in the conversation with her 
bright, quick-witted speeches. She and Lois Fleming 
are at work together, stuffing small tarletan stockings 
with nuts and candy. 

Over by the window, with Louise Koberts, is one 
person who was not here a year ago. ' The tall, fair 
girl in black, with the high-bred air and beautiful 
face, is Rose Romeyn. Some of the girls remembered 
a little discussion which was held in that room once 
regarding the Romeyn pride and exclusiveness, the 
aristocratic feeling which would not permit one of 
that name to mingle with those outside a certain 
charmed circle. Where is it now? they wondered. 
If they had asked Rose Romeyn herself she might 
have told them that she had no use for artificial dis- 
tinctions of that kind now ; she is occupied with the 
real things of life. 


A LOYAL HEART. 


305 


Louise/’ asks Lois Fleming in an undertone, 
won’t you read us a little of Corny’s letter now ? I 
can’t wait any longer, and Mrs. Parry wants to hear 
it as much as I do.” 

“ Oh please do,” said that lady, eagerly ; and she 
added, speaking in a low voice to Lois, No one ever 
brought such a blessing into our family as Corny did, 
those two weeks that she was with us. Even Ethel 
felt it. Miss Fleming. She has been a better child 
ever since, more gentle and obedient. The spirit 
of Corny’s life is a sermon without words, all the 
while.” 

Lois Fleming’s heart warmed to Mrs. Parry, hear- 
ing her speak like this. 

Christ lives in her,” she said, softly. 

Louise came now, and taking her place on the floor, 
in front of the chair on which the supplies of candy 
and nuts were placed, she opened a letter. 

I have just been reading a part of this to Rose,” 
she said. We are so happy over it ! I will only take 
time now for a few sentences, for the art of dressing 
dolls is long, and time is fleeting.” 

^ Dr. Bryce told me to-day,’ ” she began reading, 

^ that he was exceedingly gratified at the progress I 
was making so far.’ ” 

u 


306 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Mrs. Parry and Lois had stopped their work, and 
were listening with eager interest. 

^He says,’ ” continued Louise, ^ that he is satis- 
• fied now that I can be relieved entirely of the most 
serious part of my trouble, and he expects me — think 
of this ! — in a few months more to be able to walk and 
drive as much as I please. Will you tell Lois and 
Rose about it. I shall write to them soon. My 
heart just sings for joy all day long. God is so good 
to me, dear. I am perfectly happy here ; not in the 
least lonely ; every one is most kind. You cannot 
think what lovely things people do. Every day 
brings some delightful little surprise.’ ” 

Oh, Louise, isn’t it too good ! ” said Lois, pressing 
her friend’s hand. I can hardly realize that Corny 
can ever walk about again. I do not think I dared 
hope so much as that.” 

^^It makes us pretty happy at our house,” said 
Louise, with a little tremble of tears in her voice. 

I shall write to Corny to-night,” said Mrs. Parry. 
^^We are preparing a little box for her Christmas. 
Ethel is spending all her energy on a handkerchief 
case to go in it. I never knew her to care so much 
about doing anything before.” 

How it will please Corny ! ” said Louise. 


A LOYAL, HEAKT. 


307 


Come, Louise,’^ called Rose Romeyn, I can’t let 
you have any more time to talk. Just see ! my doll 
has blossomed out in her pink frock already, and 
yours is nothing but a poor chrysalis.” 

‘^Oh, dear! how did you get ahead so fast?” asked 
Louise, going back to her place in the window. 

Here comes Miss Barchet ! ” exclaimed Sara 
Patten as that lady entered the room. \Ye have 
been expecting you all the afternoon.” 

I was sorry enough not to get here earlier,” re- 
turned Miss Barchet, laying aside her cloak and 
removing her gloves as rapidly as possible. But 
I have brought a little contribution for the tree.” 
And she laid a large package down upon the table. 

^^May I open it? ” asked Gertrude Sayles. 

Certainly. Don’t expect anything aesthetic or 
decorative. Those are my mother’s own work. She 
wishes to send one to each member of the Bible class 
she taught when she was at Quinconnet.” 

Oh, aren’t they nice ! ” was the general chorus, as 
Gertrude held up half a dozen large aprons of blue 
checked gingham, neatly made. 

Those will please the old ladies more than any- 
thing else,” said Rose Romeyn. 

Yes,” said Lois, ^^and how they will like it to 


808 


A LOYAL IIEAET. 


think that Mrs. Barchet made them herself. I think 
it was lovely of her. It is so much work to make 
aprons.’’ 

^^Miss Barchet, I wish you would tell us a little 
more about those people who live in the unpronoun- 
ceable place. I think we would all like to know 
more than we do.” 

It was Maud Kingsley who said this. 

Miss Barchet had put on her thimble already 
and begun some work which Julia had ready for 
her. 

I am sure that is a reasonable request,” she said, 
in her cordial voice, since you are all responding so 
beautifully and working so hard for them. Well, try 
to imagine a village, very small, consisting of one 
irregular street of very shabby houses, with the ocean 
in front, and behind nothing but miles of bleak, 
snow-drifted country, with one very poor stage road 
connecting the place with the nearest town, eight 
miles away.” 

Various exclamations signified the general appre- 
ciation of the isolated situation. 

‘^You can easily see that Christmas does not 
naturally come to such a place with any super- 
abundance of festivity. The people live a kind of 


A LOYAI. HEART. 


309 


starved existence, anyway. Enjoyment and pleasure 
are almost unknown conditions to them. I think it 
seemed hardest to me for the little children.'^ 

I don^t know,’^ said Lois, thoughtfully; children 
can make a world for themselves with a few bits of 
broken china and some corn cobs. I think I felt the 
general depression more keenly for the young people 
than for any others, — those who are just at the age to 
be ambitious and to develop, and have nothing to 
satisfy them, not even the simplest advantage. The 
one store must be the only rallying point in the village 
now, except the schoolhouse, for the church will not 
be opened all winter, they told me.” 

Isn’t it a delight to think how they will feel 
when they open this box !” exclaimed Julia Leighton, 
who had now begun stowing packages away in a large 
wooden box which stood beside the table. Here go 
the books at the bottom ! ” 

What are you sending ? ” asked Sara Patten, with 
quickened interest 

The Bodley books and the Zig Zag Journeys,” 
replied Julia, looking at the volumes she held in her 
hands. 

Yes, and there are Fauntleroy and Sara Crewe,” 
said Lois, her eyes bright with pleasure in thinking 


310 


A LOYAL HEART. 


of the children who would read them, ^^and the Bessie 
books, and some of Mrs. Prentiss 

Here are several of Miss Yonge’s histories, I see,’^ 
said Julia, and some biographies. Science too ! — 
won’t it be a real revelation to them when they begin 
to read ? ” 

1 hope we shall be able to start a library in 
Quinconnet next summer,” said Rose Romeyn. I 
will receive any books which you girls can spare for 
that purpose.” 

A dozen volumes were promised on the spot. 

When will this box reach Quinconnet ? ” asked 
Mrs Parry. 

‘^The day before Christmas, I hope,” replied 
Miss Barchet, ‘^if we succeed in having it sent to- 
morrow' morning.” 

^^Oh, we shall,” said Rose; the work is all done 
now', except tw'o more dolls to dress. Be sure. Miss 
Leighton, not to leave out that box of tapers and 
trimmings for the tree. We want it to be the very 
gayest tree that ever w'as seen.” 

I w'onder if they wdll know what to do with the 
decorations,” remarked Sara Patten. 

I shall write to one of the women and give them 
minute directions,” returned Lois. “ I have no 


A LOYAL HEART. 


311 


doubt it will be necessary. To whom shall we send 
the box, Rachel ? ” 

I thought to Jacob North way. He seems to be 
the leading spirit in the village. He is part fisher- 
man, part blacksmith, and a capital fellow, — big and 
brawny, but really wonderfully gentle. He is a re- 
ligious man too. He writes me that they have kept 
up the Sunday-school we started regularly. He con- 
ducts it himself.^^ 

I am proud of him,” said Lois. He was the 
baby^s father whom she had visited, next to the 
schoolhouse. I really think, girls,” she went on, 
that Quinconnet would be almost as good a place as 
New York city for the College settlement theory. I 
shall never be satisfied until I try it, at least. Rose 
and I have some great schemes of our own for next 
summer.” And a flash of happy understanding 
passed between the two girls. 

Lois rose now and went to the table. The tarletan 
stockings were all filled. 

“ See, Rachel,” she said, these are what we are 
sending to all the girls who would like to do such 
things. You know they learned all the easy stitches 
last summer.” And Lois unfolded several tray cloths 
and stand covers with designs for etching and 


312 


A LOYAL HEART. 


Mexican work, and silks with which to finish 
them. 

AYhat a bright idea ! exclaimed Miss Barchet. 

And we are putting in a few large bevel-edged 
photographs for some of the men. See ! here is Hoff- 
man’s Christ in the Temple, and this Walk to Emmaus 
is so fine ! Men generally like pictures, I think.” 

Oh, won’t they have the best time, unpacking the 
box ! ” cried Louise Boberts, clapping her hands in 
her enthusiasm. And when they see the tree — ” 
And she whirled gayly about in front of the hall 
door, just in time to be caught by Will Sayles, who 
had called to walk home with her. 

Will volunteered to come in later in the evening 
and attend to shipping the box. 

You are always ready to do you part. Will,” said 
Miss Barchet, approvingly. 

Louise soon came back from the hall, with her 
round hat and close fur jacket, and she and Will bade 
the others good-night, and started off together. 

It does me good every time I see that pair of 
people,” said Bachel Barchet to Mrs. Parry as they 
left. They are so thoroughly suited to one another, 
so perfectly natural and full of fun and spirit, and at 
the same time they are hard workers, with full pur- 


A LOYAL HEART. 


313 


pose to do their part in the burden bearing of the 
world. I wish there were more like them.’^ 

An hour later Rose Romeyn and Lois came away 
with MissBarchet. They had stayed until all the others 
were gone and the box was ready to close and mark 
with the address for Jacob North way, Quinconnet. 

Lois kissed Julia Leighton good-night affection- 
ately. She was growing very fond of her. Mrs. 
Parry stood near watching them with pleasure in her 
face. 

It is so good of you, Mrs. Parry,’’ said Lois, to 
be willing to be bothered with all this confusion. I 
hope you know that we appreciate your kindness.” 

It has been a real delight to me to have all the 
girls together again,” said Mrs. Parry, and I was 
glad of a chance to help about the tree. I was at a 
loss this year for somebody to help to keep Christmas, 
— somebody outside those I love, I mean,” she added, 
gently. 

Something of real sweet-heartedness about her as 
she spoke made her very lovely. She seemed to Lois a 
different woman from the Mrs. Parry of a year ago — 
less occupied with herself, less eager to be felt and to 
make her way. Perhaps there Avas a change in Mrs. 
Parry, but there was a change in Lois too. 


314 


A LOYAL HEART. 


The three who loved so well to be together came 
out upon the snowy street, finding a pleasure in the 
bracing air and frosty sky. 

There is John coming ! cried Rose, laughing over 
at Lois. I thought he was going to let us have 
you for once.’^ She and Rachel loved to see Lois as 
she looked that evening, with her radiant face, her 
bright color, her eyes like wells of happiness in their 
clear depths, and the irrepressible gladness which 
spoke in every tone and look. 

John Romeyn had reached them now, and there 
was a merry greeting, after which Rose and Rachel 
Barchet considerately walked a little in advance. 

At a corner which was soon reached, Lois called to 
them to wait a moment. 

We are going to turn off here,’^ she said. John 
is going home to dinner Avith me. Father and mother 
say they have not seen him for a week.’^ 

^Wery weiy^ said Rose, ^^that is what we expected. 
Miss Barchet is going home Avith me.’’ 

Will you tell Gladys and Gussie that they are to 
come to our house for Christmas eve. Rose. You 
knoAV Ave have decided to arrange it in that Avay.” 

And you are to come to Christmas dinner Avith 
us? Yes, I approve of that arrangement. Mrs. 


A I.OYAL heart. 


315 


Barchet is coming too, you know, and of course her 
daughter.’’ 

Lovely !” called Lois, almost out of sight around 
the corner ; we will have a real Falaise reunion.” 

^^Only a year ago, Lois,” John Korney n said, draw- 
ing her hand a -little closer within his arm as they 
walked away alone, you and I were strangers to one 
another, and then came that memorable meeting as 
Komeo and Juliet.” 

It was a delicate question whether that would 
bring us together or divide us completely,” said Lois, 
musingly ; it was a strange, strange experience to 
me.” 

It may have been a question with you, dear. It 
never was with me. Having once seen you as I did that 
night, there was no further question on my part as to 
what I wished. But it seemed more than I could 
expect just then, under all the Capulet-and-Montague 
conditions.” 

Wliat a year it has been ! ” said Lois. How 
hard a year, and yet so full of blessedness, John ! I 
never learned so many lessons in one year before, nor 
had them given me to learn. I hope I am learning 
them a little. Do you know I am a better girl than 
I was a year ago ? ” 


316 


A LOYAL HEART. 


You grow better every day, Lois, I believe.’’ 

Hardly that, but all this year through God has 
been teaching me, dear, how to be more tolerant, more 
interested in uninteresting people, less confident in 
my own theories and opinions. I used to be very 
critical, I fear, very sure that my way was the right 
one. I know I am humbler than I used to be, and 
I find that nobody is quite unlovely to me now. I 
do not forget that thought you gave me of Christ’s 
patience with the disciples.” 

Being taught of God, great shall be thy peace.” 


THE END. 







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